


Voltron: Legendary Rewrite

by PrincessMuk



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: (but Lance doesn't know that), (eventually) - Freeform, (mostly for lance and shiro tbh), (until the gender reveal), Allurance is not the endgame but it's actually developed this time!, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, And so is Klance obviously, Bilingual Lance (Voltron), Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Canon Rewrite, Cuban Lance (Voltron), F/M, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Fix-It, Galaxy Garrison, Galaxy Garrison Flashbacks, Gay Keith (Voltron), Gay Shiro (Voltron), Hunk (Voltron) Has Two Moms, Hunk (Voltron) is a Good Friend, Insecure Lance (Voltron), Kinda, Kuron is Shiro (Voltron)'s Clone, Lance (Voltron) Has ADHD, Lance (Voltron)-centric, Lance has a crush but he thinks it's hatred, Lance's father is kinda gone, Long-Distance Relationship, Lotura - Freeform, M/M, Male Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Minor Angst, Mostly starts to change during season 7, Multi, Oh wait I do, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Platonic Cuddling, Serious Injuries, Shiro is gay, Slow Burn, Slow Burn Keith/Lance (Voltron), Violence, also includes some moments we didn't get to see in canon, and I include much more Hunk, and klance is slowburning, background hunay, but the feels are, co-leadership klance, from lance's perspective, hinted alforan, if Klance isn't canon king, it will be here, klance, lots of platonic hance stuff, more like mutual pining, okay so, platonic hance, plot is basically not original at all, so uh yeah, sorry it's true I don't make the rules here, this is the show voltron
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-04
Updated: 2018-08-11
Packaged: 2019-04-22 13:42:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 47,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14309910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrincessMuk/pseuds/PrincessMuk
Summary: What if VLD was . . . a book?And Lance was the protagonist?Well, my friends, that's exactly what this is. A rewrite of the show with Lance's thoughts, feelings, and opinions mixed in.The only other difference is that there's a lot of Klance.A lot.(Note: The show has kind of been ... bad, to put it simply. This fic will hopefully fix the problems the show had, or at least that's what I'll attempt to do. And yeah, the romance will actually be developed this time.)





	1. The Rise of Voltron

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance finds himself hurled into space with his friends, his rival, and his hero only to discover that he has to pilot a giant space cat and form an even more giant robot to defend the universe from evil . . . it's a lot to take in, to say the least.

Lance gazed out upon the simulated planet below him, smirking as he stared at the stars he swore he could touch if he tried. The simulation never failed to amaze him, though he couldn't wait to be in actual, real-life space one day. Still, the fake blue rocks and craters looked real enough to fool anyone, and the light hums from the tech and the slight rumbling as they flew only added to the effect. This was their first real simulation since he'd managed to break the controls two months ago, and he was excited to prove that he could actually fly this thing. No longer would he be the butt of everyone's jokes, but instead, a respected and awesome guy that everyone wanted to be.

"Galaxy Garrison flight log 5-11-14. Begin descent to Kerberos for rescue mission," Lance said cooly, moving the controls to descend.

Unfortunately, it wasn't very smooth, the simulation jerking as they went down.

"Augh," Hunk, Lance's best friend and engineer, frowned. "Lance, can you keep this thing straight?"

"Relax, Hunk, I'm just getting a feel for the stick," Lance smirked. "I mean, it's not like I did  _this_ ," Lance quickly jerked the controls.

Hunk groaned behind him.

"Or  _this_ ," Lance jerked the controls again.

Behind him, he could hear Hunk holding in his vomit. Maybe he went a little bit too far.

"Okay . . . " Hunk's voice was a bit angry, "unless you want to wipe beef stroganoff out of all the little nooks and crannies in this thing, you'd better  _KNOCK IT OFF, MAN!_ "

To his left, Lance could hear Pidge's monitor activate.

"We've picked up a distress beacon!" Pidge announced.

"All right, look alive, team!" Lance grinned. "Pidge, track coordinates."

"Copy."

The simulator began to rumble, alarms blaring as lights flashed. It didn't bother Lance, though. He knew something like this was bound to happen, it was the simulator's job to send chaos their way after all. Everything was fine. He could pilot through this.

"Knock it off, Lance, please!" Hunk pleaded.

"Oh this one's on you, buddy," Lance stated. "We've got a hydraulic stabilizer out."

Lance heard Hunk pull up his monitor, then a small, "oh no--" and the sound of his friend once again chocking down vomit.

Normal for Hunk, but still gross. Also, not the time!

"Oh, no—" Lance frowned, "fix now, puke later!"

"I lost contact," Pidge said. "The shaking is interfering with our sensors."

"Come on, Hunk!" Lance reiterated.

"It's not responding," Hunk replied. "Ugh . . . " he grumbled, unbuckling his seatbelt.

Lance's monitor suddenly appeared in front of him. "Oh, never mind, fellas. Thar she blows. Preparing for approach on visual."

"I don't think that's advisable with our current mechanical and... gastrointestinal issues," Pidge mentioned.

Lance heard Hunk chocking down his vomit yet again before getting out a weak "agreed."

No. This was going to be fine. They were so close to beating it this time! Lance was not about to give up now.

"Stop worrying. This baby can take it. Can't you, champ?" Lance retorted, patting the simulator.

The simulator then decided to violently shake because apparently, the universe loved proving Lance wrong. Still, Lance had to have faith they could do it this time. He was not about to get another failed grade because of this stupid simulator.

"Uh, see? She was—she was nodding. She was nodding," Lance hurriedly tried to explain, though he was sure his teammates (and everyone watching them) could see right through his bluff. Quickly, he regained his composure, "Pidge, hail down to them and let them know their ride is here."

Lance heard Pidge unbuckle his seatbelt, then he pulled down the microphone. "Attention lunar vessel, agh!"

Lance heard a loud  _thump!_ as Pidge hit the floor, simulator still shaking.

"What are you doing? Buckle your belt," Lance commanded, "and Hunk, stop that shaking!"

There was no way they were failing again. They were so close! Why did it have to slip away now?

"I-I'm try—" Hunk stopped, and Lance knew what was about to happen. "Ah-ah o-oh no—!"

Cue the puke.

Well . . . at least the rumbling stopped . . . for about two seconds.

"Attention lunar vessel, this is Galaxy Garrison Rescue Craft One Victor Six Three Tango," Pidge announced into the mic. Finally, they were getting somewhere. "Coming in for landing and extraction . . .  "against crew recommendations," he added, tone somehow even more annoyed than usual.

"Uh, no time for your mutinous comments now, Pidge," Lance rolled his eyes. "They're going under and we're going in." He moved the controls, diving in towards the surface of Kerberos.

"Look out for that overhang!" Pidge warned.

"No worries!" Lance grinned, turning to look at his teammate. "My first year in flight school, you know what they called me? They called me 'The Tailor' because of how I  _thread the needle,"_ Lance's grin only widened. He turned back to the screen, "come around, come around! Come on, come on—!"

Much to Lance's disappointment, they hit the overhang. Shit.

"We lost a wing!" Hunk shouted.

"Oh man," Lance muttered, frowning.

With a crash, the simulator went dark, soon ending and announcing their failure with a red screen and a monotone voice saying _" **simulation failed."**_

"Nice work, tailor," Pidge commented, giving Lance a harsh stare.

The doors opened, and Commander Iverson leaned down, an arm holding onto the top of the simulator. "Roll out, donkeys!"

With a sigh, Lance exited the simulator along with Hunk and Pidge, standing in a small line in front of their commander with their heads low as he got ready to lecture them in front of their class.

 _What a fun class this is turning out to be,_ Lance thought as he stared at the floor.

"Well let's see if we can't use this complete failure as a lesson for the rest of you students," Iverson grumbled. "Can anyone point out the mistakes these three so-called cadets made in the simulator?"

A guy raised his hand, "the engineer puked in the main gearbox!"

"Yes, as everyone knows, vomit is  _not_  an approved lubricant for engine systems," Iverson spat at Hunk, who's posture slacked as he frowned. "What else?"

"The Comm Spec removed his safety harness," some British chick noted.

"The pilot crashed!" another girl pointed out. Probably Gina, that smart ass. Lance _hated_ Gina.

"Correct." Iverson nodded. "And worst of all, the whole jump, they're arguing with each other!" Iverson stared at them. "Heck, if you're going to be this bad individually, you'd better at least be able to work as a  _team!_  Galaxy Garrison exists to turn young cadets like you into the next generation of elite astroexplorers," he lectured, "but these kind of mental mistakes are exactly what cost the lives of the men on the Kerberos Mission."

"That's not true, sir!" Pidge retorted, and Lance's eyes grew wide.

Why did this have to happen  _every single time_?

"What did you say?" Iverson quickly looked to Pidge.

"S-sorry, sir!" Lance quickly apologized, clasping his hand over Pidge's mouth and muffling his continuing retorts. "I-I-I think he may have hit his head when he fell out of his chair. But point taken," he smiled anxiously, taking his hand off Pidge's mouth as he stopped.

Iverson began walking towards Lance, who was now staring at him with a scared frown. "I hope I don't need to remind you that the only reason you're here is that the best pilot in your class had a discipline issue and flunked out." Lance definitely didn't need reminding on that. " _Don't_  follow in his footsteps." Lance could feel sweat dripping down his forehead as Iverson turned to the class. "Next!"

Lance looked down at the floor again as the next team entered the simulator, trying to keep thoughts of the stupid Keith Kogane out of his mind. Stupid, stupid Keith.

* * *

Lance gave a large, dejected sigh as he flopped onto his bed, staring up at the bunk above him as Hunk set down his bag near their beds. "Stupid Iverson . . . stupid Keith."

"You okay, buddy?" Hunk asked, giving a small frown.

"Yeah, yeah . . . " Lance turned, looking at his best friend with a forced smile. "I just . . . " the smile faded, "I just wish we didn't keep failing that stupid simulator. How am I supposed to prove that I actually deserve to pilot here if . . . if I don't?"

"Aw, Lance," Hunk sighed, putting a hand on Lance's arm. "You  _do_ deserve to be here, man. Iverson's whole spiel about you only being here because of Keith is a load of horse crap."

"Yeah, well . . . " Lance stopped himself, not wanting to get into some crying fest . . . again. After a moment, he smirked, looking over at his friend. "Hey, Hunk . . . wanna sneak out?"

"Wha--"

"Come on!" Lance chuckled, quickly standing up and dragging Hunk out of their dorm.

"Lights out in five! Everyone back to their dorms, now," Lance heard Iverson shout around the corner of the hallway he'd dragged Hunk into.

"We shouldn't be doing this," Hunk protested, hiding behind Lance as he peeked around the corner, watching Iverson walk away.

You heard Commander Iverson. We need to bond as a team," Lance smirked as he explained his reasoning. "We're going to grab Pidge, hit the town, loosen up, meet some nice girls, maybe—"

"Okay," Hunk interrupted as the lights turned off, "I'm just—I'm just saying this here, right now, on the record: This is a bad idea."

A bad idea that Lance would take full blame for if they got caught. But for now . . .

Lance quickly ran across the hall, heading towards Pidge's dorm. 

"You know, for someone in a space exploration program," Lance started as he ducked under the window of the teacher's lounge, "you don't have much of a sense of adventure."

"All of your little adventures end up with me in the principal's office," Hunk reminded him, and Lance chose to ignore it.

Lance raised his head a bit, looking up into the teacher's lounge, and then coming back down, motioning for Hunk to follow him as he crawled along the floor, out of sight.

"Oh man," Hunk sighed, reluctantly following him. Once they were past the lounge, Hunk continued, "listen, man, this is just--"

"Shh, Hunk, hide!" Lance whisper-shouted, jumping into a recycling bin as footsteps approached.

Hunk frantically followed his lead, barely fitting into his chosen recycling bin.

"L-5 North all clear," Lance heard a guard announce into his radio as he passed. 

After opening the flap on the lid to make sure he was gone, Lance jumped out of the bin, smirking as he stuck the landing. Iverson's was just a few yards away, so they would have to be careful.

Once Hunk was out of his bin and standing, he let out a small, "I'm fine," as they walked towards the orange door.

Suddenly, that door opened, and the two of them quickly ducked to hide behind the corner, Hunk letting out a small yelp.

Lance watched curiously as none other than _Pidge_ raced out of the office, carrying a bag with him. "Where is _he_ going?" he asked, voice low.

Hunk and Lance followed their teammate silently, looking to one another curiously when they realized they were heading towards the roof.

Pidge had managed to set up some equipment and even put on his headphones before they'd entered the roof, and Lance had to admit the view was pretty nice from up here. Still, he had no idea why Pidge would sneak out of his dorm just to come up here just to listen to music. And it was beyond him why he needed his laptop and random equipment.

Lance quietly walked behind Pidge, who still hadn't noticed them, as Hunk crawled along the floor behind him. He kneeled down on his knee, grabbing one side of Pidge's headphones and lifting it ever so slightly. "You come up here to rock out?"

Pidge gave a startled yell, jumping and staring at Lance for a moment. He quickly regained his composure, sitting criss-cross and letting his hands clasp by his feet. "Oh, Lance, Hunk. No, um, just . . . looking at stars," he said, though it was clearly a lie.

"Hey, where'd you get this stuff?" Lance asked, a brow lowering. "It doesn't look like Garrison tech."

"I built it," Pidge proudly told him, smirking.

"You built all this?" Hunk asked, leaning in to poke at the laptop, though Pidge slapped his hand away before he could, leaving him frowning.

"With this thing, I can scan all the way to the edge of the solar system," PIdge continued, smirk still on his face.

"That right?" Lance's hand stroked his chin. "All the way to Kerberos?" he gave a small smile.

Pidge's expression immediately changed before he looked away, and Lance knew he'd struck gold.

"You go ballistic every time the instructors bring it up, what's your deal?" Lance asked.

Hunk tried again to sneakily touch what seemed to be a small satellite, but Pidge wasn't having it.

"Second warning, Hunk!" Pidge chided.

"Aw . . . " Hunk frowned.

Lance ignored the exchange, still desperate to know why Pidge was so obsessed with Pluto's moon. Sure, the mission there had gone terribly, but it wasn't like it concerned Pidge at all!

"Look, Pidge, if we're going to bond as a team, we can't have any secrets," he explained, brows lowering in an almost accusing manner.

After a moment, Pidge's shoulders relaxed, "fine." He turned a bit so Lance could now see his face, "the world as you know it is about to change." He looked Lance in the eye, and he found himself wondering what the guy was even going to tell him. "The Kerberos Mission wasn't lost because of some malfunction or crew mistake—" the boy quickly turned, "STOP TOUCHING MY EQUIPMENT!" he yelled, and Hunk flopped over in defeat.

Pidge continued, "so I've been scanning the system . . . and picking up  _alien radio chatter_."

Lance stared at Pidge with a bored expression. He's got to be kidding, right?

"Whoa, what? Aliens?!" Hunk quickly sat up, eyes wide in fear.

"Okay," Lance noted, "so you're insane. Got it."

"I'm  _serious_ ," Pidge said as Lance stood, arms crossed. "They keep repeating one word," Pidge picked up a notebook with a crudely drawn alien surrounded by flames triumphantly holding a sword off his pile of equipment, holding it up so the boys could see, " _Voltron_ ," he tapped the word as he spoke. "And tonight, it's going crazier than I've  _ever_ heard it."

"How crazy?" Lance asked, but a sudden alarm cut off any answer Pidge might have given.

 _"Attention, students. This is not a drill,"_ Iverson's voice blared through the intercom. _"We are on lockdown! Security situation Zulu Niner. Repeat: All students are to remain in barracks until further notice."_

Oh-- SHIT.

"What's going on?" Hunk asked, standing up. Suddenly, he pointed towards the sky, "is  _that_ a  _meteor_?!"

Lance and Pidge looked up towards where Hunk was pointing, eyes wide as they saw the large, fiery object flying through the sky.

"A very . . . very . . .  _big_ meteor?" Hunk continued, voice panicky.

 _This can't be good_ , Lance thought.

Pidge grabbed his binoculars from his bag, looking up at the object. "It's a ship!"

Lance grabbed the binoculars from Pidge, not caring that he was still clinging to them. "Holy crow!" he exclaimed, staring at the incoming ship, which was dark and had glowing lights in odd shapes decorating it. "I can't believe what I'm seeing! That's  _not_ one of ours."

"No," Pidge agreed, "it's one of  _theirs._ "

Aliens. On Earth.

This was . . . actually kind of cool.

"So wait," Hunk's head turned as he watched the ship plummet towards the land below, "there really  _are_ aliens out there?"

Lance watched as the ship crashed into the desert, causing a large explosion. Barely even seconds later, Lance could hear another alarm blaring, and land rovers practically flew out of the compound to investigate.

"We gotta see that ship!" Pidge exclaimed, backpack already on as he ran towards the stairs.

Lance followed him, "Hunk, come on!"

Hunk mumbled something Lance couldn't quite catch before following, and the three of them made their way towards the exit.

* * *

 

The trio soon made their small surveillance camp on a small cliff overlooking the now-quarantined crash site. Pidge typed away on his computer as Lance grabbed the binoculars to watch the site, and Hunk was nervously watching next to him.

Lance zoomed in on the site, looking at what seemed to be the ship, which was strapped down to a truck. "Whoa... What the heck is  _that_  thing?!" he shifted his view, trying to see if there were any other alien things, but one of the scientists caught his eye. "And who the heck is  _she?_ _"_ he asked as he zoomed in, only to be whacked in the head by Pidge. "Ow! Ah, right . . . alien ship. Man, we'll never get past all those guards to get a look," he complained, lowering the binoculars.

"Aw, man," Hunk sighed, though Lance knew he wasn't actually disappointed. "Yeah, we—yeah I guess there's nothing to do but head back to the barracks, right?"

"Wait," Pidge suddenly said, a few beeping noises coming from his laptop. Lance looked at him curiously. "They set up a camera in there and I grabbed its feed. Look."

Lance and Hunk leaned in, staring at Pidge's computer screen with wide eyes.

 _"Hey, hey what are you doing?!"_ a man, who was strapped to a table, desperately asked. He was wearing torn purple and black clothing that didn't look like it provided much protection, and part of his hair was white from what Lance assumed to be stress. He was scratched up and he had a scar running along the bridge of his nose, and where his right arm was supposed to be was . . . a robot arm.

 _"Calm down, Shiro,"_ Iverson told the man. _"We just need to keep you quarantined until we run some tests on you."_

Wait . . .

 _"You have to listen to me!"_ Shiro continued, letting out a strangled noise. _"They destroy worlds!"_ he grunted, _"aliens are coming!"_ He continued to let out noises as he struggled to break free of the bonds, but to no avail.

"That's Shiro!" Lance exclaimed, pointing to the man on the screen. He'd changed a lot for sure, but it was definitely him. "The pilot of the Kerberos Mission," he continued, "that guy's my hero!"

"Guess he's not dead in space after all . . . " Hunk mumbled.

"But where's the rest of the crew?" Pidge asked, confused.

 _"Do you know how long you've been gone?"_ Iverson asked on the screen, seeming to completely ignore Shiro's pleas.

 _"I dunno . . . "_ Shiro's voice was strained and his breathing was loud,  _"months? Years? Look, there's no time._ _"_ His expression turned to one of sorrow, though still panicky.  _"Aliens are coming here for a weapon. They're probably on their way! They'll destroy us! We have to find Voltron!"_

The three teens quickly looked at one another at the mention of Voltron, each wondering how Shiro knew about the alien chatter. Lance realized the chatter Pidge had heard must have been the aliens Shiro was talking about . . . shit.

"Voltron!" Pidge exclaimed.

They all looked back to the screen.

 _"Sir, take a look at this,_ _"_ a technician said to Iverson.  _"It appears his arm has been replaced with a cyborg prosthetic."_

 _"_ _Put him under until we know what that thing can do,"_ Iverson commanded, which Lance found utterly ridiculous. If someone crash-landed in an alien ship and warned him they were about to be attacked, Lance would listen to whatever they wanted in a heartbeat,  _especially_ if that person was  _Shiro_!

 _"No, no, no no-- don't, don't put me under!"_ Shiro pleaded.  _"No! No, there's no time! Let me go!"_

"They didn't ask about the rest of the crew," Pidge whispered, obviously perplexed. Lance admitted that was weird, but it seemed the aliens were the bigger problem at the moment.

"What are they  _doing_?" Lance exclaimed. "That guy's a legend! They're not even going to listen to him?"

"We have to get him out," Pidge decided, looking at Lance with a determined expression.

"Ah, I hate to be the voice of reason here, always," Hunk stood up, "but weren't we just watching on TV because there was  _no way_  to get past the guards?"

Though Hunk had a point, there was  _no way_ Lance was passing up the chance to save Shiro. Besides not wanting to die from evil aliens, it would also be super cool, and who was he to pass up a chance to be super cool?

"That was before we were properly motivated. We've just gotta think . . . " Lance put his face in his hand as he brainstormed, then he looked to the crash site. "Could we tunnel in?"

"Maybe we could get some hazmat suits and sneak in like med techs," Pidge suggested.

"Or we dress up like cooks," Hunk began, pointer fingers up, "sneak into the commissary . . . little late-night snack . . . " he smirked.

Though Lance knew Hunk was just scared to get in trouble (and craving stress food), it wasn't the time for jokes. This was serious, they just had to think . . .

"No," Lance dismissed the idea, "what we need is a distraction."

As if on cue, explosions started going off a mile or so away from the site, causing all three of them to let out startled yells.

"Is that the aliens?!" Hunk asked, panicked. "A-are—Tha—The—Is that the aliens?! Are they here?! They got here so quick," he bent down, hiding behind Pidge and Lance.

Lance stared at the explosions with a raised brow, knowing it wasn't aliens, but still wondering what the heck was going on . . . was someone else trying to save Shiro? How did they get here so quick?

"No," Pidge said, putting a hand up to his forehead. Lance looked at him curiously. "Those explosions  _were_  a distraction . . . for  _him!_ "

Lance looked over to where Pidge was pointing, where a figure on a hoverbike was rushing towards the site. Who the heck _was_ that?!

"The Garrison's headed towards the blast," Pidge continued, "and he's sneaking in from the other side!"

Lance grabbed Pidge's binoculars as he spoke, zooming in on the mysterious newcomer. The moment the guy hopped off his hoverbike, Lance knew exactly who it was, though it was a little difficult to tell at first because of the dark bandana covering his face. Still, Lance knew him anywhere . . . it was none other than Keith Kogane.

"No way...!" Lance exclaimed. "Oh, he is  _not_  going to be us in there! That guy is always trying to one-up me!" he frowned, already starting to run down the hill to the site.

There was no way Keith was stealing his thunder again. Not this time.

"Who is it?" Hunk questioned from behind him.

"Keith!" Lance replied.

"Who?" Pidge asked.

"Are you sure?" Hunk ran after him, leaving Pidge behind.

"Oh, I'd recognize that mullet anywhere!" Lance shouted in return, now slowing down as he neared the steeper part of the hill. Keith was not beating him. Keith was not beating him.  _Keith was not beating him!_

"Who's Keith?!" Pidge yelled from behind, following them.

Lance slid down the rocks like it was nothing, barely paying attention to if his friends were still behind him. All that mattered was beating Keith . . . and saving Shiro, of course. But he was not about to let Keith take his one chance at doing something great! He  _hated_ the guy, and it didn't help that Iverson was always yelling at him about how he had to live up to him. Stupid Keith and his stupid out-dated hair were always getting in the way . . . but not this time.

Lance kept that in mind as he raced towards the site, seeing no guards as he rushed in. He slowed down a bit as he let Hunk and Pidge catch up, though he was walking fast through the encampment.

It wasn't long before they heard fighting coming from one of the rooms, where Lance assumed Keith was. (Beating people up was such a Keith thing to do.) He speed-walked towards it, brows low as the doors slid open.

"Nope, no you--" Lance began as he walked down the ramp to meet Keith, who had draped on of Shiro's arms along his shoulder to support him. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no you don't. I'm saving Shiro," he pushed the table aside, lifting up Shiro's other arm and putting it over his own shoulder.

"Who are you?" Keith asked.

"Who am I?" Lance repeated, now fully situated under Shiro's arm. "Uh, the name's  _Lance._ " He blinked, but stupid Keith showed no signs of recognition. "We were in the same class at the Garrison?" he tried again. There was no way Keith didn't know who he was. How the  _hell_ could Keith not know who he was?! 

"Really? Are you a . . . engineer?" Keith asked. He obviously didn't know who Lance was. Which. Was.  _Infuriating._ (And engineer? Really?)

"No, I'm a pilot!" Lance corrected him, trying his best to hide how much it stung for his own rival to not know who he was. How could the guy that had been ruining his life for the past two years  _not_ know who he was?! "We were like rivals! You know, Lance and Keith, neck and neck . . . "

"Oh, wait, I remember you," Keith said, looking at him with an unreadable expression. "You're a cargo pilot."

"Well, not anymore," Lance said, his voice harsh and obviously offended. "I'm fighter class now, thanks to you washing out."

"Well," Keith started, sounding unamused. "Congratulations."

With that, they carried Shiro out of the room, Hunk and Pidge staying silent and giving Lance odd looks that he decided to ignore. Once they made it to the exit, Hunk and Pidge stopped for a moment to see if the men were coming back as Lance and Keith continued to drag Shiro towards Keith's hoverbike. Lance had to admit that it was much easier to pull Shiro along with Keith's help, though he still wished it wasn't  _Keith_ helping him.

"We gotta go," Lance barely heard Hunk say from behind them, and soon enough Hunk and Pidge were running up next to them as they all reached the hoverbike. "Uh, do you mind if we catch a ride with you?" Hunk asked, he and Pidge already getting on the bike as Lance set Shiro down (Keith left him for the driver's seat).

The hovercraft tipped over as they all piled on, and Lance prayed it didn't make Shiro's condition worse than it already was.

"Is this  _thing_ going to be big enough for all of us?" Pidge asked critically.

" _No_ ," Keith replied like it was obvious.

The Garrison approached, and Keith booked it. Lance did his best to stay on as they took off, lifting Shiro and sliding him up so Pidge could help hold him since  _somebody_ decided to drive. (Which . . . was necessary, but still.)

"Why am  _I_ holding this guy?" Pidge asked as Lance let go for a moment.

"Hey, we did all fit," Hunk pointed out cheerfully.

Lance took a moment to look behind them, frowning at the quickly approaching rovers chasing them from the site. "Can't this thing go any faster?" Lance asked, looking back to Keith.

"We could toss out some non-essential weight," Keith suggested dryly.

"Oh, right!" Lance looked around the craft, frowning and seeing nothing besides . . . them. "OK, so that was an insult. I get it--" Lance raised a finger, ready to say more, but Keith (that jerk) interrupted him.

"Big man, lean left!"

(Lance thought it was very rude for Keith to call Hunk 'big man', even if he didn't know his name.)

Hunk did just that, and Lance made a startled noise as the hovercraft leaned heavily to the left, allowing them to turn, the Garrison rovers crashing behind them.

"Aw man! Mr. Harris just wiped out Professor Montgomery!" Hunk announced, looking back. "No, no, he's fine."

"Big man, lean right," Keith said again, and Lance looked at him with wide eyes. How many times were they going to do this?

Lance found himself somehow too afraid to yell as they turned, jumping off the cliff they'd been riding on and onto another (which was  _very_ narrow and had walls that they _slid into_!) and continued speeding away from the rovers, which crashed behind them.

This was _completely insane_.

"Guys?" Hunk's worried voice caught Lance's attention. "Is th-th-th-tha-tha—Is that a cliff up ahead?"

Sure enough, the edge of the cliff was in front of them, and it wouldn't be long before they flew off it and crashed themselves.

"Ooooh no, no, no!" Lance pleaded. "No, no, no, no—!"

"Yep," he heard Keith say when he leaned forward and revved the engine.

That was when they flew off the cliff, all of them (save Keith) screaming in terror. They were going to die. This was it. Oh. Shit.

"What are you doing, you're gonna kill us all!" Lance shouted, clinging to the wing and hoping he didn't fall off if by some miracle the hovercraft could take this. (He doubted it.)

"Shut up and trust me," Keith said just as Lance was jerked forward and had to hold on tightly to the wing again, closing his eyes. Sure, he was totally going to trust his rival who was too stupid to remember him and apparently too crazy to understand how gravity worked.

Lance could hear noises coming from the hovercraft as he felt them suddenly stop falling, moving forwards and, most surprisingly, somehow not dead?! He opened his eyes again, not understanding how they weren't dead, but grateful nonetheless. The wind whipping through Keith's stupid mullet was the first thing he saw, and though he still hated the guy, he had to give him kudos for such a daring escape. They were all silent for a moment, all of them (besides Keith again) too shaken up from thinking they were going to die to say anything.

Man . . . they'd actually escaped. They'd rescued Shiro.

"Well, looks like you've done  _one thing_ right, Mullet." Lance praised, not saying anything when Keith let out an angry, "what's that supposed to mean?!"

* * *

After maybe forty minutes of driving, they arrived at a tiny shack in the middle of the desert, which had a width that might have been smaller than the hoverbike. It had an even tinier shed connected to it, and the only decoration was a chair on the covered porch. An antenna was sticking out of the roof, though Lance didn't think someone would get very good service out here. Coming from a large family, it boggled Lance's mind that someone could live all alone in such a tiny house in the middle of nowhere, though he knew Keith did a lot of weird things that he could never possibly understand. Heck, they were as different as night and day.

Still, they couldn't go back to the Garrison now that they were basically criminals, and the nearest town was hundreds of miles away. So if they had to sleep on the dirty floor of Keith's shack in order to help Shiro . . . then so be it.

"So . . . " Keith began a bit awkwardly after he'd carefully set Shiro down on his couch (and draped a blanket over him), an almost relieved look on his face. Lance guessed they had a history, though he had no idea how Keith could know Shiro. "If you guys are staying, you can just . . . sleep on the floor I guess. I have a sleeping bag, but . . . it's just the one."

"We'll be fine, thanks," Lance said, arms crossed.

Keith looked down for a moment, then nodded. "I'm going outside for a moment . . . gonna see if the Garrison tracked us back here. I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Right," Lance nodded, and then Keith made his exit. He looked to Pidge and Hunk, giving a long sigh. "Well . . . that was a thing that just happened."

"Yeah, uh, that was pretty freaky, man!" Hunk's hands went into the air as he spoke, eyes wide. "We just-- and Keith-- and now-- and--"

"Yes, I agree," Pidge gave a curt nod. "I'm just glad I brought my backpack."

"Yeah, lucky you, Pidge," Lance gave a small frown. "It was actually kinda cool, though. I mean, we saved Shiro!" Lance pumped his fist, the thrill of it all still lingering. "A-anyway . . . you can have the sleeping bag, Pidge. Hunk and I will sleep on the floor and . . . spoon or something."

"Are . . . are you sure?" Pidge blinked, nose crinkling as he gave a sort of confused expression.

"Yeah, yeah," Lance pushed him over towards the sleeping bag that Keith had pointed to. "Don't make it all _weird_ and  _mushy_  that I'm letting you have it, man."

After a moment, Pidge smiled. "Thanks," he bit his lip, taking the sleeping bag and unrolling it in the only clean corner of the shack, which just barely fit him.

Lance wasn't about to admit it, but he sort of felt . . . protective over Pidge. Like he was his little brother. Lance, being the youngest, hadn't ever had a younger sibling, but he  _had_ had nieces and nephews to look after, and he'd always felt more important when they were around. The point was, he was the one in charge of their little trio, and Pidge was obviously a few years younger than he and Hunk, so he'd obviously get the sleeping bag. That's how it worked. Besides, he and Hunk had sleepovers all the time, so they were used to sleeping all snuggled up like best friends do. (Most guys wouldn't admit to that . . . or maybe they wouldn't do it in the first place . . . but he really didn't care. It was like his skincare; though it might not be 'masculine', he enjoyed it, and that was what mattered.)

"Okay, well . . . I'm gonna see if Pidge has any food in his bag," Hunk said softly once Pidge was snoring, and Lance just shrugged, deciding to stay out of it. He knew how Pidge hated people touching his stuff, but he wasn't about to get in the middle of that.

When Hunk sat down next to him a few minutes later, he had a smug look on his face, but Lance was too tired to really care. The two of them had just gotten snuggled up when Keith came back in, and even in the dark Lance could tell Keith was trying to be quiet. He probably thought they were all asleep (which Hunk and Pidge probably were) and didn't want to wake them. Or maybe he just wanted to let Shiro rest. Still, it was pretty considerate . . .

Lance found himself wondering again how Shiro and Keith knew each other. Were they friends? Roommates? Did Shiro tutor him? Were they brothers? Lance didn't know, but the way Keith looked at him . . . they must have been close. Lance couldn't imagine being that close to Shiro . . . it was like being friends with  _Shakira_. Shiro had always been so untouchable . . . he was Lance's hero and role-model. And now, Lance had helped save him from some weird Garrison hospital, and he'd helped Keith -- his  _rival_ \-- to do it.

What a crazy day it had turned out to be.

* * *

It was sunrise when Lance woke up.

He was a bit groggy at first, confused as to where he was as he took in the small, messy room he was in. Then he remembered: this wasn't a room, it was Keith's entire  _house_ , and on the couch was . . . wait. Where was Shiro? And where was Keith?

Lance stood up, causing Hunk to squirm a bit before he, too, opened his eyes. "Wha . . . Lance?"

"Hunk, come over here," Lance gestured, now at the window. He saw Keith approach Shiro, who was now wearing different clothes, on a small mound of sand in front of the shack. They were talking about something, but Lance didn't know what. He looked to Hunk with a raised brow, wondering if he had any speculations, but Hunk just shrugged.

He wondered if Keith was telling him about how they'd saved him, or if he already had.

Once they turned to make their way back, Lance flinched, rushing over to Pidge and shaking him. "Pidge, wake up, Shiro's coming in here in like ten seconds and we gotta make a good impression!"

Pidge frowned, slapping Lance's hand away and letting out a long, tired groan before sitting up. Lance put out his hand to help Pidge up, but he didn't take it, instead opting to find his glasses and put them on before fixing his hair a bit. Lance just sighed, standing up fully once again and internally prepping himself for meeting Shiro.

 _It's no big deal, Lance,_ he told himself.  _It's just your hero . . . it's no big deal . . . he's just a person like you! Just, don't freak out, don't say anything stupid, and don't make any weird jokes. You'll be fine._

Lance let out a deep breath and crossed his arms before the door opened, Keith and Shiro stepping in. Keith gave a small wave to them, then made his way to a wall where a drape covered what seemed to be a map by the looks of the edges sticking out from behind it. He pulled the drape down, revealing a board of maps, diagrams, sticky notes . . . the perfect conspiracy board. Pictures of carvings and the desert covered the board, some connected by a red string like Lance had seen on crime shows. All the strings led to one place, the center of a map where a circle surrounded an area labeled "ENERGY ZONE", and a note to triangulate the zone was written on the map as well.

" _What_ have you been working on?" Shiro asked, staring at the board in awe.

They all looked to Keith, who began his answer immediately.

"I can't explain it, really. After getting booted from the Garrison, I was kinda . . . lost and . . . I felt myself drawn out to this place," his brows lowered, expression hardening. "It's like something . . . " Keith looked towards them, "some  _energy_ was telling me to search."

Normally, Lance would have called Keith crazy. But with the whole _alien_ thing . . . and Shiro falling from the sky . . . and Pidge's weird _Voltron_ thing . . . well, this wasn't that hard to believe.

Shiro looked at Keith curiously after a moment, "for what?"

"Well," Keith started, "I didn't really know at the time . . . until I stumbled across  _this_ area," he placed two fingers on the board in the "ENERGY ZONE". "It's an outcropping of giant boulders with _caves_ covered in these . . . ancient markings." Lance stared at the various pictures as Keith spoke, wondering what it could all mean. "Each tells a slightly different story about a  _blue lion_ , but they all share clues leading to some _event_ , some . . . _arrival_ happening last night," Keith looked back to Shiro. "Then you showed up."

Shiro looked at him for a moment, then turned to where Lance, Pidge, and Hunk were standing. Lance hoped he didn't notice how he tensed up when he looked at him.

"I should . . . thank you all for getting me out," Shiro walked forward, putting out his prosthetic arm. "Lance, right?"

Lance reached his own hand out on instinct before stopping.

Wait. Wait. Wait.

Was _Shiro_ wanting _him_ to  _shake his hand_?!

 _Oh my god!_  Lance internally squealed.

After a moment, he smiled, taking Shiro's hand firmly.

. . .

Wow.

That was probably the best thing that had ever happened to him, period.

Shiro turned to offer his hand to Pidge or Hunk. Hunk had his hand on his head (a nervous habit) and Pidge quickly outstretched his own hand to meet Shiro's. (How? Was he? So casual?)

"The nervous guy's Hunk," Pidge explained, "I'm Pidge," he shook Shiro's hand. "So . . . did anyone else from your crew make it out?" he asked, voice softer.

"I'm not sure," Shiro said after a moment, looking away. "I remember the mission, and being captured, but after that, it's just . . . bits and pieces."

"Yeah, sorry to interrupt, but back to the  _aliens,_ " Hunk nervously said, hunching over a bit. "Where are they now? Are they coming? Are they coming for all of us? Like, where are they at this very moment?"

"I can't really put it together . . . " Shiro looked down, "I-I remember the word 'Voltron'. It's some kind of weapon they're looking for, but I don't know why. Whatever it is, I think we need to find it before they do."

Hunk reached into Pidge's bag, "well, last night I was rummaging through Pidge's stuff, and I found this picture," Hunk held it up as he spoke. It looked like Pidge in his Garrison uniform, a girl in a purple and white dress smiling next to him. "Look, it's his girlfriend," Hunk chuckled.

"Hey, gimme that!" Pidge snapped, snatching the picture back from Hunk's hand. He yanked his bag back, "what were you doing in my stuff?"

"I wa—I was looking for a candy bar," Hunk explained. "But _then_ , I started reading his diary," Hunk produced a red book from behind his back.

" _WHAT?!_ " Pidge stole it back.

"And I noticed that the repeating series of numbers the aliens are searching for looks a lot like a Fraunhofer line," Hunk continued without hesitation as Pidge looked through his diary, probably making sure he hadn't written down anything embarrassing.

"Frown . . . who?" Keith rose a brow, arms crossed.

"It's a number describing the emission spectrum of an element," Hunk explained, "only this element doesn't exist on Earth. I thought it might be this  _Voltron_ , and I think I can build a machine to look for it, kinda like a Voltron Geiger Counter."

Lance grinned, crossing his arms, "Hunk, you big, gassy genius!"

"It's pretty fascinating, really. Th-The wavelength looks like this," Hunk pulled out a sheet of paper with dots connected by a jagged line, smiling softly as he showed it to them all.

"Gimme that," Keith suddenly grabbed the paper, looking down at it as he walked towards the board again. (Pretty jerk move, if you asked Lance.) He held it in front of the board just below the picture of some boulders, lifting it up in front of the picture.

Wait . . . that line looked a lot like those boulders.

"Guys," Shiro said, turning towards them. "I think we have a lead."

* * *

Soon enough, Hunk and Pidge had figured out how to make their Voltron-finder-thingie, and they all headed off to hike three miles to the boulders. Lance found himself wondering why Keith had been drawn here, though he definitely felt the energy. It was like a constant hum in the back of his mind that reassured him everything would be alright. 

Once they arrived, Lance looked out at the boulders ahead of him, gaping. "Okay, I admit it. This is super freaky."

"I'm getting a reading," Hunk announced, and Lance's gaze flitted towards him. The teen was staring down at his makeshift device, which had a wire connecting a small satellite that Pidge held up as high as he could. Hunk took a few steps forward, stopped, and then continued on, the rest of them following him.

As Hunk led them through the canyon, Lance looked around, noting that the scene was kind of nice to look at. It couldn't compare to Cuba, of course, but the rock piles were pretty cool.

Soon enough, the device began to go crazy, and Hunk and Pidge ran ahead to a cave a few yards away. Lance ran after them, watching Hunk's eyes widen as he let out a soft, "woah."

Inside of the cave were hundreds of carvings and markings depicting mostly the Blue Lion, though there were some other random things, as well. They seemed to be pretty old, though Lance didn't know much about cave markings. He stared at them in awe as they all walked in, trying to figure out what they meant.

"What are these?" Shiro asked, taking the words right out of his mouth.

"These are the lion carvings I was telling you about," Keith explained as Lance walked over to the wall next to him, wanting to get a closer look at one particular carving. "They're everywhere around here."

Lance set his hands on his hips and leaned forward, looking at the wall with his lower lip puffed out curiously. It was too dusty to really see, so he reached out to the wall, brushing the layer of dust away. Suddenly, as he pulled his hand away, the carving began to glow a brilliant blue!

"Woah . . . " Lance gaped as he realized what was happening. " _Woah_!" he inched back, thinking it might be radiation or something.

All around the cave, the markings were glowing, everyone staring at them in awe. Lance wasn't sure what he'd done, but he didn't think it was good if the cave was glowing like this. What if he'd set off a trap or something?!

Keith let out a surprised breath, "they've never done that before."

 _No shit, Sherlock,_ Lance thought, though he was too occupied staring at the glowing carvings to actually say it.

A cracking noise was heard below and the ground began to glow in a circle around them, everything shaking as they all looked down. The ground was cracking beneath them! Shit! Before any of them had time to react, the ground gave way, and they were falling, sliding down a waterfall like a slide. Lance yelled as he did so, and he could hear the rest of the group doing the same. Somehow he was in the front, but it didn't really matter as they all landed in the water below with a splash. The water wasn't very deep, and  _boy_ did it hurt, especially since he landed right on his side. 

Ignoring the pain and the water soaking his clothes, Lance rose to his knees, looking up to try and figure out where they were. It wasn't long before he gasped, looking ahead and seeing what appeared to be a giant, blue, robot lion inside of a forcefield.

"They  _are_ everywhere," he said softly, gaping at the sight. How could this even be real??? He didn't quite know, but it was hands down the coolest thing he'd ever seen.

They all slowly stood up, staring at the Lion in awe. 

"Is this it? Is this the Voltron?" Pidge asked, staring quizzically at the Lion.

"It . . . must be," Shiro said.

"This is what's been causing all this crazy energy out here," Keith said, starting to walk towards it.

Oh, no  _way_ was  _Keith_ going to be the one to get to the Voltron and . . . do whatever they were supposed to do with this thing. How did superweapons from space work, exactly? It didn't matter, they were following him now, and Lance couldn't take his eyes off the Voltron.

He swerved around as he walked, trying to shake the weird feelings he was getting from this thing. He was sure something was going to happen with this, but he wasn't sure what. He felt almost . . . connected to the Voltron, in a way. 

"Does anyone else get the feeling this is staring at them?" Lance asked, mostly just thinking aloud.

"No," Shiro replied after a moment.

Lance ignored his answer, sure that it was, and he continued to stare back. "Yeah. The eyes are totally following me." He wasn't sure how to explain it, it wasn't like the thing had irises or anything, but he was  _positive_  it was staring at him. He leaned over in different directions as he spoke to prove it, and sure enough, the eyes seemed to watch no matter what angle he was at.

Keith stopped a foot or so in front of the force field, staring up at the Lion as the rest of them approached.

"I wonder how we get through this," he said, reaching up and touching the field in various spots.

Lance walked up next to him, almost rolling his eyes at Keith's stupid attempts at opening the force field. Everything Keith did was stupid, though, so he couldn't blame him.

"Maybe you just have to knock," Lance said, and then he did just that. He yelped and stepped back as blue light erupted from the spot, wisping around for a moment and lighting the entire cove blue. The Lion's eyes seemed to shine, and then the force field dissipated, the circle of markings surrounding the Voltron lighting up the same way the cave had a few minutes ago. Blue light shone from it, and wind coming from the area whipped Lance's short hair.

Absolutely stunning.

Lance didn't have much time to enjoy the view, however, as suddenly his mind was filled with the image of five robot lions just like the Voltron coming together into a giant blast of light to suddenly form . . . a giant robot  _man_. With wings. And a blazing sword of fire, which he whipped around like an awesome samurai. 

As the images disappeared, Lance stared up at the Lion, letting out a small, "woah," along with Shiro, Keith, and Pidge.

"Uh . . . did everyone just see that?" Lance asked, hoping he wasn't going crazy.

"Voltron is a robot!" Hunk announced, hands moving animatedly as he spoke. "Voltron is a huge,  _huge_ , awesome robot!"

"And this thing is only one part of it!" Pidge noted. "I wonder where the rest of them are."

"This is what they're looking for," Shiro realized.

"Incredible," Lance heard Keith say behind him.

The Lion suddenly began to lower its head, causing Hunk and Pidge to scream like children. Lance didn't pay attention to them, instead opting to stare at the Lion. He somehow didn't think it was going to hurt them, even if any logical person would have run for the hills by now. The Lion's mouth opened a hatch, a ramp falling down for them to walk up and into the robot. Lance stared at it, hesitating for a moment. This was crazy, but . . . it was also super cool.

With a grin, he ran into the Lion, following the path up to the cockpit, where a white and blue chair sat in the middle of a mostly empty area. Lance walked in front of the seat, looking around for any controls (there weren't any) before sitting down in the chair. "Here we go," he smirked, lifting one of his legs up to rest on his knee as he crossed his arms in satisfaction. He yelped as the chair suddenly moved forwards, almost throwing him off of it. As he looked up and rubbed his head, he saw the console light up blue, showing various controls that had been absent before. "Huh?"

The window before him cleared, allowing him (and the group, which had wandered in) to see the cave outside. Lance chuckled, "all right! Very nice!" This was definitely better than the simulators at the Garrison.

"OK guys," Hunk started, "I-I feel the need to point out, just so that we're all, y'know, aware: We are in some kind of futuristic alien _cat head_ right now."

Suddenly, the world seemed to disappear, only the outlines of the cockpit present in a dark blue landscape as the Lion rumbled, filling Lance's head with reassurances and instructions he wasn't sure how he understood. Just like that, it was gone, and he was back with his team, though the feelings still lingered.

"Woah, did you guys just hear that?" Lance asked, assuming it might have been like the earlier vision.

"Hear what?" Keith asked. So . . . no? Or maybe Keith was just an idiot . . . nah, they probably didn't hear it.

"I-I think it's talking to me," Lance explained, leaning forward to inspect the controls. "Hmm . . . umm . . . " he pressed some buttons, somehow knowing what they meant, and the Lion stood up and roared.

Again, Pidge and Hunk screamed like children. And again, Lance ignored them.

"Okay, got it," Lance grinned. "Now let's try this," he smirked, pushing the controls forward. The Lion practically jumped up, bursting out of the cavern like it was nothing and flying up into the air, even doing a summersault before using the thrusters to stay above the ground. How awesome was that?! The Lion stayed low for a moment, then blasted off towards the sky, spinning and trying to ignore Hunk pulling his hair off to stay standing in the cockpit. Actually, everyone was screaming, which was super annoying, though he knew it must have been hard to stand while all this was happening. Still, it wasn't like  _he_ was the one doing it. It was all the Lion!

 _"YOU ARE. THE WORST. PILOT. EVER._ " Keith shouted, voice about as high as a middle schooler going through puberty. (That was simultaneously the best and worst thing Lance had heard all day.)

Then, the Lion did another flip and then blasted off even higher. At that, Lance joined in on the screaming, barely paying attention to the way Keith held on to his seat and hid behind it like that would do anything if they crashed. Still, the Lion didn't seem to want to stop showing off its flying skills, and even when it landed it ran across the desert sand at a high speed.

"Isn't this awesome?!" Lance looked back to the others with a grin.

"Make it stop," Hunk jerked forward, looking kinda sick. "Make it stop!"

"I'm not making it do  _anything,_ " Lance grinned. "It's like it's on autopilot!"

Just as Lance said that, the Lion blasted off towards the sky again.

"Where are you going?!" Keith asked in a very accusatory manner that Lance didn't appreciate.

"I just said it's on autopilot!" Lance repeated, annoyed. "It says there's an alien ship approaching Earth. I think we're supposed to stop it."

"What did it  _say_ , exactly?!" Pidge asked.

"Well, it's not like it's saying  _words_ ," Lance tried to explain, "more like feeding  _ideas_ into my _brain_ . . . kind of." Lance stared at Pidge, who just looked mad.

"Well, if this thing is the weapon they're coming for, why don't we just, like—I don't know, give it to them?" Hunk suggested. "Maybe they'll leave us alone. Sorry, Lion, nothing personal," he said, looking up at the ceiling of the cockpit.

"You don't understand," Shiro began, tone somber and divisive. "These monsters spread like a plague throughout the galaxy, destroying everything in their path. There's no bargaining with them. They won't stop until everything is dead."

Everyone stared at Hunk, who looked embarrassed for even suggesting they give the Lion up.

"Oh . . . nevermind then."

While they'd been talking, they'd somehow left the atmosphere and entered space, which was everything Lance had ever dreamed it would be. The darkness was all around them, yet the stars lit everything up beautifully. Earth was below them, the sun shining from behind it, and Lance felt a surge of excitement flow through his body. He was in  _space._ He'd finally gotten there.

The Lion growled as they soared along and away from their home planet, heading towards where Lance assumed the alien ship would be. Suddenly, a giant warship the size of a moon rushed in out of freaking _nowhere_ , bearing a great resemblance to the pod Shiro had arrived in. However, it was much bigger (obviously), and much,  _much_ scarier . . . it reminded Lance of Star Trek.

Hunk was the first to react. "Uh...  _Holy crow!_  Is that really an alien ship?!"

The Blue Lion moved, now more above the ship and at a better vantage point. There was no way they could beat this thing . . . but they had to try. Lance couldn't just let Earth be destroyed . . . his home . . . his family . . . it meant too much.

"They found me . . . " Shiro whispered, and Lance felt a pang of sadness at the situation. This wasn't Shiro's fault, this was--

The ship opened fire, purple lasers flying in every direction, though mostly aimed at the Blue Lion. Lance's eyes widened, and Pidge's voice brought him back to reality.

"We've gotta get it out of here!"

"Hang on!" Lance shouted, thinking of nothing else but getting the ship away from the Earth. 

Though he was still getting the hang of the Lion, he managed to pilot quickly to dodge the lasers, keeping them safe as he headed away from Earth.

"Ah! All right! Okay, I think I know what to do!" Lance said, though he was more thinking out loud than anything. He had to stay focused on the piloting. He couldn't mess this up.

"Be careful, man!" Pidge harshly warned. "This isn't a simulator!"

"Well, that's good," Lance answered, his light tone hiding the fact that he was  _terrified_ right now. "I always wreck the simulator."

When he'd signed up to be a pilot, he hadn't expected to be dodging lasers from alien warships, but now that he was doing it, there was no messing up. If he did, he and his friends could die, and the Earth might be destroyed, too. He couldn't let that happen. Too many good people would be killed . . . like his family.

Lance pushed one part of the controls forwards in an attempt to do  _something_ useful, and soon enough the Lion was charging up a cannon that was soon blasted at the length of the enemy ship, causing a few explosions where it had been hit. 

"Let's try  _this_ ," Lance smirked, now getting more used to the controls. Despite his fears, he felt totally in control of this Lion, like he was  _meant_ to pilot it, and he was soon dodging more lasers as he headed towards the warship, using the Lion's giant metal claws to dig into the side and tear up even more of it. He flew away before the explosions even went off, earning a "nice job, Lance!" from Shiro.

"Okay, I think it's time to get these guys away from our planet," Lance said, flying away from the Earth and hoping the warship would follow.

After a moment of rushing through space, the ship followed, quickly gaining on them. Lance could barely believe how fast they were going, the stars looked like passing streetlights on a highway, but he turned his attention to the ship. They were leaving Earth, but what would they do now?

"Oh, no!" Hunk cried.

"They're gaining on us!" Pidge warned with a yell.

"It's weird. They're not trying to shoot us," Lance pointed out, huffing. "Th-They're just _chasing_."

"Okay, seriously, now we think having aliens follow us is  _good_?" Hunk protested. "I am _not_ on board with this new direction, guys."

Lance didn't think it was necessarily a  _good_ thing to be shot at or followed, but it was strange that they weren't firing like they were before. But he still had no idea what they were supposed to do . . . 

" _Where_ are we?" Keith suddenly asked, and Lance then noticed the large blue sphere next to them, small asteroids all around the area.

Wait . . . this couldn't be right. They couldn't be . . .

"Edge of the solar system," Shiro said, sounding almost in disbelief. "There's Kerberos."

Apparently, they could.

"It takes  _months_  for our ships to get out this far," Pidge gaped. "We got out here in five _seconds_."

Suddenly, a blast of light appeared in front of them, a dark blue hole in its place. Light blue patterns circled the rim, and white light spun around inside it, beckoning them to go inside. Lance was sure that's where the Lion wanted them to go, but . . . that might mean leaving the galaxy.

" _What_ is that?" Hunk asked, in shock.

"Uhh, this may seem crazy," Lance started, "but I think the Lion wants us to go through there!"

"Where does it go?" Pidge asked hesitantly.

Lance looked at him, uncertain. "I-I don't know." He returned his gaze to the hole. "Shiro, you're the senior officer here," he looked up at the man, "what should we do?"

"Whatever's happening, the Lion knows more than we do. I say we trust it," Shiro offered, then looked to the group. "But we're a team now. We should decide together."

Everyone exchanged quick glances before all eyes were on Lance. Pidge set his hand on Lance's shoulder, and he knew they all had come to the same conclusion.

"All right," he slowly eased the Lion forward, "I guess we're all ditching class tomorrow."

He flew them into the massive hole, a white blast surrounding his vision for a moment as he felt it close behind them. He prayed this wouldn't kill them all. The Lion shook intensely as they rushed through a blue tunnel, until finally they suddenly came out of the hole, now near an Earth-like planet in the middle of who-knows-where.

They escaped. That was good. But where were they?

* * *

"Woah . . . that was . . . " Lance was cut off as Hunk vomited next to him, and he looked away, internally accepting Hunk's apologies before he puked again.

"I'm just surprised it took this long," Pidge deadpanned, adjusting his glasses.

"I don't recognize any of these constellations . . . " Shiro said, looking out the windshield. "We must be a long, long way from Earth."

"The Lion seems to want to go to this planet," Lance explained as the Lion blasted off towards it. "I think . . . I think it's going home."

Entering the atmosphere wasn't too bad, though Lance realized the simulators didn't show nearly how intense the turbulence was. It also didn't simulate how his team was going to be huddling around him so he couldn't even fly correctly, which was again, pretty annoying.

"Guys, personal space!" Lance complained, then looked to his friend, "Hunk, your breath is killing me."

"Um, is it just me or is anyone else having second thoughts about flying through a mysterious Wormhole?" Hunk said, obviously frantic. "Why are we listening to a robotic lion anyway?"

"It got us away from that alien warship, didn't it?" Lance retorted.

"I don't know if you noticed," Keith said, standing up fully, "but we're  _in_ an alien warship."

"Oh," Lance smirked, "are you scared?"

"With you at the helm?" Keith stared at him, frowning like the emo loser he was. "Terrified."

"Alright, knock it off!" Shiro said sternly as they all looked towards him. "No one's happy to be in this situation, but we're here now. If we want to get through this, we've got to do it together."

"So, what do we do?" Pidge asked.

"First, we find out where we're headed," Shiro decided. "Lance?"

"I . . . don't know," Lance admitted, looking down at the controls. He looked to his teammates worriedly, hoping they weren't angry at him. "I-I'm sorry, the Lion's not talking to me anymore." That was when Lance noticed the castle ahead. But before he told them . . . he wanted to do something. "Wait! Wait, wait, wait, shh! Listen. I think I hear something."

What the others heard was, as Hunk described it, "a high-pitched squeal", but Lance . . . was farting. It was out of spite, really. First Keith had made the rude comment about him being the worst pilot ever, and then everyone had invaded his personal space (Hunk especially), and he was frankly a little annoyed. So he figured the prank was justified.

"Come on, Lance!" Shiro, Keith, and Hunk all yelled as they held their noses.

"But seriously," Lance smirked, "there's a castle up ahead."

Everyone gaped as they slowly descended towards a giant white and blue castle, but it wasn't like a medieval castle . . . it looked much more futuristic than that. It was amazing, though, and it sat right on top of a large boulder structure, overlooking a huge lake. The bridge leading up to it was falling apart, but it still seemed strong enough to use. Still, they flew right over it, the Lion's eyes glowing again and activating something which caused the castle to shine various blue lights from its spires as they landed in the courtyard.

They all looked at the castle for a moment before Shiro spoke.

"Keep your guard up," he said.

"Something wrong?" Pidge asked.

"My crew was captured by aliens once," he explained, tone almost regretful. "I'm not gonna let it happen again."

Soon enough, they were walking out of the Lion and onto the courtyard, the air luckily breathable and actually pretty fresh. Suddenly, the ground rumbled, and they all turned to look at the Lion, which was starting to stand up.

Hunk was yelling again, maybe about to cry. "Oh no! Oh no! I knew it was going to eat us! No!"

The Lion roared, sending a blast past them and towards the castle, the giant doors lighting up and sliding open.

Hunk hid behind Shiro, cowering. "Oh, the door is open," Hunk looked to the Lion. "Guess I was wrong about you."

Lance just stared at the doors in shock, a bead of sweat dripping down his face. That was . . . intense.

The group walked into the dark castle, looking around for any sign of life. It was completely empty . . . and also really, really creepy.

"Hellooo?" Hunk suddenly called out, stopped. Startled, they all turned to look at him as his words echoed around the castle, but Hunk just shrugged. 

"From the size of the Lion, I expected these steps to be bigger," Pidge noted.

Suddenly, from above, a blue light shone, surrounding them as a robotic voice spoke to them. ** _"Hold for identity scan."_**

Lance gasped, looking down as a whiter light began to move up his body.

"Why are we here?" Shiro asked, looking up. "What do you want with us?"

Around the room, blue torches began to light themselves, showing a path past the stairs and further into the castle.

"Woah!" Lance gaped, amazed by the entire castle. It just seemed so . . . magical. It was unreal. For a moment Lance wondered if he'd fallen into a coma and this was all some weird dream.

"I . . . guess we're going that way!" Pidge exclaimed as the torches continued to light down the hall in front of them.

They followed the torches in silence for a while, looking around at the castle. It was definitely too small for the Lion, so Lance assumed whatever lived here must be around human-sized. Still, there was nobody in sight, and the entire place seemed untouched.

"Hello?" Hunk called out as they walked across a sort of bridge. His voice echoed throughout the walls, but nobody answered.

"Hellooo?" he tried again a few minutes later as they walked down some stairs. Still, no answer.

Eventually, the torches stopped lighting in front of a set of metal doors which slid open upon their arrival, revealing a large circular room with what appeared to be a console in the middle of it.

"Hello?" Hunk asked again as they entered, Pidge in the front of the pack and heading towards the console.

"Where are we?" Lance asked, voice low as he looked around.

"It's some kind of control room," Pidge guessed, gasping as the console activated. He looked over to see two large cylinder-shaped pods rising from the floor, smoke surrounding them. Inside seemed to be a figure, but it was hard to make out. 

Lance gasped as another rose next to him, another figure inside. It dawned on him that they were probably aliens, which was just . . . _wow_.

"Are these guys . . . dead?" Hunk asked, poking up from behind the console.

One of the pods lit up, a shimmer dissolving the glass to reveal . . . a super cute elf chick in a princess dress with pink markings on her face?

The elf chick gasped, falling out of the pod as she yelled, "father!"

Lance quickly moved to catch her in his arms, staring at her in utter disbelief. She stood, still relying on him for support, and stared into his eyes.

Damn. She was beautiful. His heart was fluttering.

Lance blushed, smiling, then tilted his head and gave his signature smirk, " _hello_."

"Who are you?" she asked, looking to the side as she thought, "where am I?"

"I'm Lance," he said as she looked back to him, "and you're right here in my arms."

She looked unimpressed, but also a bit confused. "Your . . . ears."

What? Lance looked to his ear, then realized he couldn't actually see them, and then looked back to the elf girl. " . . . yeah?"

"They're hideous," she said bluntly, moving away from him. Lance clenched his teeth, offended. What the heck was wrong with his ears?! They were perfectly normal!  _She_ was the one who looked like an  _elf_ _!_ "What's wrong with them?" she asked, looking disgusted.

"Nothing's wrong with them!" Lance said, leaning towards her with an angry expression. "They heard exactly what you said about them!"

The elf chick then proceeded to grab his (completely normal) ear and pull him to the ground in a restraining hold, which hurt like  _hell_ , and he decided then and there to never argue with her again because this rivaled even his father's punishments.

"Who are you?" she demanded. "Where is King Alfor? What are you doing in my castle?"

"A giant blue lion brought us here, that's all we know!" Lance said, trying his hardest not to cry from the pain she was currently putting him through.

"How do _you_ have the Blue Lion?" she asked, letting go of Lance, who grunted. "What happened to its Paladin? What are you all doing here?" Lance stood up, rubbing his head as she stared at them all. "Unless . . . How long has it been?"

"We don't know what you're talking about," Shiro said cautiously. "Why don't you tell us who you are? Maybe we can help."

The elf chick shifted to a more defensive posture, looking at them wearily as she spoke. "I am Princess Allura of Planet Altea. I've got to find out where we are," she said as she walked up to the console, placing her hands on it, "and how long we've been asleep." The console lit up at her touch, a screen appearing in front of her.

"Okay," Pidge blinked from behind the console, " _that's_ how that works."

Lance turned to see the other pod opening, revealing another elf person that appeared to be a kind of old guy with ginger hair and a large mustache. He gasped at the sight of Lance, screamed, then yelled, "e-enemy combatants!" He jumped out of the pod and towards Lance, who quickly moved to the side, causing him to hit the ground. Lance looked at him with a raised brow as he struggled to stay standing, grabbing another pod. "Ooooh, quiznack!" he looked back to Lance, "you're lucky I have a case of the old sleep chamber knees! Otherwise, I'd grab your head like this," he demonstrated the movements, "wrap you up like so, one, two, three," he snapped, "sleepy time!"

"Well, before you did that I'd," Lance moved to do some karate moves, "hoo! Ha! Hiya!" He landed from a jump, smirking, "like that."

"Oh, really?!" the man countered, "well how could you do that when I've already come at you with this?" He bent down, striking the air in front of him and grunting. Lance just gave him an unimpressed look, gaze trailing over to the team near Princess Allura.

"Man, these guys are good," Hunk noted, watching as Allura looked through her screen.

Her expression changed suddenly, turning into a devastated frown as the computer beeped. "It can't be . . . "

"What is it?" the man asked, concerned.

"We've been asleep for ten-thousand years!" she exclaimed, eyes watering up.

Lance watched her with wide eyes as she froze, seeming to process the information she'd just given them. She was so still she might have gone into shock, her hand going up to her chin. It fell as she blinked, lowering her head. "Planet Altea . . . and all of the planets in our solar system . . . have been destroyed," her brows lowered. "Coran, father is gone," she turned to the man, "our entire civilization . . . " she looked at the ground.

Lance bit his lip, frowning as he watched the princess seem to crumble. He couldn't imagine how hard it must be to lose her family, much less her entire  _planet_. He didn't know her very well, but . . . he gave her his sympathy.

" _Zarkon_ ," she said suddenly, expression angry. 

Shiro gasped beside her, "Zarkon?"

"He was the king of the Galra," she explained, tone sharp and vengeful. "A vile creature, and enemy to all free people!"

"I remember now," Shiro looked down with a pained expression, then rose his head to look at the team. "I was his prisoner."

"He's still alive?" Allura looked to the side, bringing her fist up to her chest. "Impossible!"

"I can't explain it, but it's true," Shiro said, posture straightening a bit. "He's searching for a superweapon called Voltron."

"He's searching for it because he knows it's the only thing that can defeat him," Allura told them, "and that's  _exactly_ why we must find it before he does."

* * *

With that revelation, the team decided to take a breather, Coran going to retrieve something from another part of the castle while they waited to make a plan. Lance found himself next to Keith as Hunk and Pidge checked out the podium/computer/whatever-it-was before Allura shooed them away to look at the screen again. They didn't really say anything, Lance shot him a few glares, but Keith just rolled his eyes, looking at the ground with his arms crossed like he always did. Lance guessed he was regretting bringing them all along from the Garrison tents. Lance would, too, if he'd picked up Keith. But they couldn't change the past . . . and now they were here.

Coran came back in with a plate of some weird green goop that he set down (and it floated!) before he pleaded, "Princess, you must eat! It's been ten-thousand years!"

"I'm not hungry," Allura said, eyes on the screen in front of her.

"Man, ten-thousand years?" Lance rose a brow. "That's like one-thousand plus ten!" He hoped the obviously stupid math would lighten the Princess' spirits, but of course, Keith had to come in and be a jerk about it.

"That's _times_ ten," he corrected, apparently not understanding the joke.

"Whatever, dropout," Lance shot back, glaring as Keith frowned. Stupid Keith, ruining his joke.

"I haven't eaten since _breakfast_ and I'm starving," Hunk said, hands on his stomach. 

"Yeah, but you've thrown up like, five times," Pidge supplied.

"Hmm . . . good point," Hunk said, reaching for the plate of goo. He shoved it in his mouth, then gave a disgusted expression, yet he continued to eat it anyways.

"I can't believe your civilization created such advanced technology ten thousand years ago," Shiro said, admiring the room. "It must have been an incredible place."

"Yes," Coran said, still looking a bit . . . hollow. "It was," he looked down, closing his eyes, "but now it is gone . . . " he looked to Allura, "and we're the last Alteans alive."

Allura looked about ready to cry, mourning as Coran moved to comfort her. She hugged him, sobbing softly for a moment before she gasped, head raising. She walked over to the pod, smiling as she noticed some colorful mice inside, "looks like we're not the last after all."

Suddenly, an alarm began to blare, the screen Allura had previously been looking at becoming red as it flashed what Lance assumed to be warning signs, though he couldn't read the language. A warship similar to the one that had chased them to Kerberos appeared on the screen, and Coran gasped as they all moved towards the podium.

"A Galra battleship has set its tracker to us!" he exclaimed.

"How did they find us?!" Allura asked, walking up behind Coran with the mice in her hands.

"I'm not sure," Lance said, arms crossed, "but I bet it's Keith's fault."

"Say whatever you've got to say to make yourself feel better," Lance looked at Keith, who looked pretty angry. Good. "After getting us stuck on the other side of a wormhole!"

Lance almost growled as he leaned towards Keith, getting in his face as he yelled, "I'll stick  _you_ in a wormhole!" His arms rose when Shiro came over, separating them before they got into a catfight or something. If Shiro hadn't done that, though . . . Lance might have punched Keith right in his stupid face.

"Stow it, cadets!" Shiro commanded, "this is no time to place blame, it's time to work as a team." He turned to Coran, and Lance let his arms fall, though he still glared at Keith. "How long before they arrive?"

"At their speed?" Coran thought, holding his fingers up to do some quick math, "oh, well, uh, carry the two . . . " he mumbled, "I'd say probably a couple of days?"

"Good," Allura said, looking determined. "Let them come. By the time they get here," she looked at them, "you five will have reformed Voltron, and together, we will destroy Zarkon's empire!"

Hunk burped as she finished, smiling cheekily as he apologized, "sorry, food goo."

"Princess, there are five of these Lions," Shiro said, "how are we going to find the rest?"

The mice in Allura's hands squeaked before she spoke, "follow me," and turned, walking out of the room. They all followed close behind her, not wanting to get lost in the mysterious castle. She led them to a bridge (the controlling-tech kind) and stood under a crystal in the middle of the room that shone down on her as she approached.

"King Alfor connected the Lions to Allura's lifeforce," Coran explained as the princess stood in the light, concentrating. "She alone is the key to the Lions' whereabouts."

When Allura opened her eyes, thousands of lights expanded from where she stood, creating what seemed to be a 3D map of the universe that filled the room. Everyone but Coran gasped at the sudden appearance of the map, looking at it in awe. Lance could see so many planets and stars . . . he'd always known the universe was huge, but this really put it into perspective. To imagine that people had been all over the universe to create a map like this was just . . . unreal.

"These are . . . coordinates," Pidge pointed out, looking up at the holographic stars. He watched as the planet they'd landed on floated past him, the Blue and Black Lions outside of it with lines connecting them to the planet. "The Black Lion looks like it's in the same location as the Blue Lion."

"Look at your primitive synapses firing away in their little brain cage!" Coran said from behind Pidge, though Lance had  _no idea_ what that was supposed to mean. Was he calling them smart or dumb?

"Very observant," Allura said, seeming to ignore Coran. "That's because the Black Lion is in the castle."

"To keep the Black Lion out of Zarkon's hands, King Alfor locked it in the Castle," Coran explained. "It can only be freed if the other four Lions are present."

"As you have found, the Lions choose their pilots," Allura reminded them. "It is a mystical bond, and _cannot_ be forced. The Quintessence of the pilot is mirrored in his Lion." Lance wasn't exactly sure what that meant, but it sounded pretty cool. He figured Blue had chosen him since he'd been the one to pilot her, but . . . maybe she hadn't. Maybe he'd just been the first to sit down, and she just needed to get away from Earth. Lance tried to keep that thought out of his mind as Allura continued, "Together, they form something greater than science can explain."

Allura moved her hand forwards, sending the Black Lion towards Shiro as she spoke. "The Black Lion is the decisive head of Voltron. It will take a pilot who is a born leader and in control at all times, someone whose men will follow without hesitation. That is why, Shiro,  _you_  will pilot the Black Lion."

"The Green Lion has an inquisitive personality," Allura continued, moving the Green Lion in the direction of Pidge, "and needs a pilot of intellect and daring. Pidge,  _you_ will pilot the Green Lion." Pidge gave a large smile as he looked at the hologram, and Lance felt happy for him. Pidge had never piloted before, so this was going to be difficult for him, but Lance was sure he could do it.

"The Blue Lion--"

"Whope, hold on, let me guess," Lance interrupted, holding his chin as he gave his signature grin, "takes the most handsome slash best pilot of the bunch?"

Allura didn't even respond (rude), instead giving him an annoyed look and moving on. "The  _Yellow Lion_ is caring and kind," she smiled, moving the map again. Lance just frowned, wishing she would have given him a smile like that. Was she still angry about his ears or something? Lance was really trying to be nice to her here, maybe flirt with her a bit, and she didn't even care! "Its pilot is one who puts the needs of others above his own. His heart must be mighty," the Lion stopped in front of Hunk, who just gaped at it. "As the leg of Voltron, you will lift the team up and hold them together."

Hunk looked behind him as if to make sure she was talking to him, then he pointed at himself questioningly, giving a confused grunt. Like Pidge, Hunk had never flown anything, but Lance was sure he'd do great. he just needed to practice! Lance would definitely give him some tips later on, though he doubted Hunk would need them. He picked up skills pretty quickly, and he could do basically anything if he put his mind to it. Lance had always admired him for that. He smiled as he thought about his friend, getting a good feeling that this was going to go well for them.

"The Red Lion is temperamental and the most difficult to master," Allura continued, the Red Lion appearing before her hands. "It's faster and more agile than the others, but also more unstable," Lance assumed Allura was sending the Lion towards its pilot, but the only person left was . . . wait. "Its pilot needs to be someone who relies more on instincts than skill alone." No, not  _him_! "Keith,  _you_  will fly the Red Lion."

"What? This guy?" Lance questioned, glaring at Keith. Ugh. He got kicked out of the Garrison for a  _reason_. So why did he still get to pilot? Not fair . . . God, Lance hated him.

"Unfortunately, I cannot locate the Red Lion's coordinates yet," Allura explained. "There must be something wrong with the Castle. After ten thousand years, it... might need some work."

"Don't worry, we'll find it soon," Coran said, "they don't call me 'the Coranic' for nothing," he straightened his shirt. "It's because it sounds like 'mechanic'," he explained, then twirled his mustache, "So . . . 'Coranic' . . . 'mechanic' . . . it's not-- it doesn't sound . . . exactly like it-- it's similar!"

Next to Lance, the Red Lion roared, moving with the other Lions to form a giant robot . . . Voltron. He gasped as it happened, amazing once again by the sight. This was just . . . so cool!

"Once all the Lions are united, you will form Voltron," Allura explained, the robot appearing above her, "the most powerful warrior ever known, the Defender of the Universe!"

"Awesome!" Hunk smiled.

"Woah . . . " Pidge gaped.

"Wait, okay, we're going to be in there and flying Lions. Got that part," Hunk began, trying to get things straight. "How do Lions turn into legs? Also, is this going to be a long trip? Because I have to pee. Do you people pee?"

"You know we don't have much time," Shiro said, though Lance thought it was a little unfair to make Hunk wait to pee. "Pidge and I will go after the Green Lion. Lance, you take Hunk and get the yellow one," Lance smirked at the mention of his name, ready for this mission. He and Hunk were going to get that Yellow Lion, piece of cake! "Keith," Shiro put his hand on Keith's shoulder, "you stay here. If you locate that Red Lion, go get it."

"In the meantime," Allura said, "I'll get this castle's defenses ready. They'll be sorely needed."

"I'll ready a pod," Coran smiled, "a-and load in the coordinates so you can reach the Green Lion."

* * *

Soon enough, Lance and Hunk had parted ways with the rest of the team and made their way into the Blue Lion. Lance sat in the pilot's seat and Hunk stood behind him, holding on tightly. It was much less crowded than when everyone was in it, though it was still a little tight. Still, much less than before.

"Lance, do you think I'll really be able to fly a Lion?" Hunk asked, biting his lip.

Lance gave him a soft smile, putting a hand on his for reassurance. "Yeah, man, I'm sure! You can do it, I know you can."

At that, Hunk nodded, a determined expression replacing his anxious one. Lance just gave him a small nod before he turned around, making sure the diagnostics were all set before he blasted off along with the pod. 

They soon broke the atmosphere, the two spacecrafts separating and heading towards the areas Allura said she'd be opening their wormholes in. Lance heard Coran come in through the Lion's speakers, and he listened carefully for any last-minute instructions, looking at Hunk to make sure he wasn't getting nervous again.

"We can only keep the Wormholes that lead to the other Lions open for two of your Earth hours, so you'll have to be quick about your work," Coran explained. "The good news is that according to my readings, both planets are relatively peaceful. So, if you do get stuck, they could be relaxing places to live out the rest of your lives. Enjoy the trip!"

"Wait, what?!" Lance almost yelped, looking away from Hunk as they floated closer towards the wormhole. "No, okay--"

"I did  _not_ receive the memo on this!" Hunk carped, and then . . . they entered the wormhole.

Once again Lance and Hunk felt intense vertigo, going through the weird astral area before being spat out the other side, to see . . . a planet filled with Galra.

Shit.

Lance tried to fly his Lion away from the area, but it was too late. Multiple ships had already noticed them and were flying towards them at high speeds. Lance maneuvered the Lion to fly away from them, blaring alarms going off as he spun the Lion around. Lance screamed as Hunk repeatedly yelled "no!", trying his very best not to get blown up. Coran's information must have been  _way_ off because this was  _not_ a peaceful planet!

Under heavy fire, Lance tried to fly away from the fighter jets currently chasing them, screaming and grunting all the while. As the jets fired missiles their way, Lance jerked the Blue Lion away, but soon one of them hit the Lion. Oh God, oh God, oh God, they were going down fast! They were going to die, oh God!

"I thought Coran said these planets were peaceful!" Hunk yelled as Lance screamed.

"Maybe 'peaceful' means something else in Altean!" Lance shot back, trying to ignore how the Lion was spinning as he jerked the controls back, activating the jets so they didn't crash. Still, the fighter jets shot at them relentlessly as they flew away and towards the mines the Yellow Lion was in, though more artillery was coming from there. Dang it, this was a suicide mission!

Hunk pulled up the Altean compass they'd been provided with as he stood. "According to the coordinates, we're right on top of the Yellow Lion. It's below there, where they're mining for the ore," Hunk said, looking towards the window that zoomed in on the area in question. "They don't even know the Lion is there! Or maybe they just got here and they're digging for the Lion? What do you think, Lance?"`!

"Who cares, just go get it!" Lance snapped, temper very low due to the  _insane amount of artillery currently being shot at him!_ "I'm dropping you down there."

"Me? Down there?" Hunk shook his head, "no. No, no, no."

"Yes, I'll cover you," Lance decided. There was no more time for them to mess around, or even to make an actual plan. They desperately needed that extra Lion or they weren't going to last much longer on this planet, much less be able to form Voltron and save the universe.

Lance dived down towards the mine, landing and crushing a few sentries as he moved towards what seemed to be the safest place to drop off Hunk. 

"No, what if the Yellow Lion doesn't work?" Hunk asked, panicky. "W-what if I-- what if I can't get in the mine? What if I start crying? It's too late, I'm already crying!"

"Sorry, no time for questions!" Lance turned around, hoping that if he was calm and in control Hunk would be able to chill out himself. Lance quickly ejected Hunk out of the Lion, watching for just a moment to make sure he was okay before he flew away to draw the Galra fire. Hunk was pretty vulnerable now, but if he could get to the Lion then they had a chance. Lance was sure Hunk could do it . . . if he couldn't, then both of them might be stuck here forever.

Lance grunted as he avoided a large blast from one of the jets, muttering a stressed "come on, Hunk . . . " as he maneuvered out of the way of some more fire. The Lion was going to take heavy damage soon if he didn't get some support, and if he went down then he'd be useless even if Hunk found the Yellow Lion.

Lance gave another grunt as he was hit once again, one of the lasers missing him to hit near the mine. Shit, that wasn't good. He had to draw the fire away . . . Lance zoomed in on the jets above him, then blasted off towards them, using the Lion's tail to shoot larger blasts at them. God, this wasn't going very well. Hunk really needed to get out fast . . . 

Lance shot up towards the fighters, doing a barrel roll before he chomped down on one of them, rendering it useless. If only he could do that to all of them . . . Lance blasted at another jet, but the rest moved back towards the mine.

"Oh, no!" Lance grunted, flying after them. Shit, shit, shit. He shot at them as they shot at the mine, but he barely hit anything. He managed to hit a jet, but it had already shot its missile towards the mine. 

"HUNK!" Lance yelled, watching helplessly as the missile made impact with the mine, causing a massive explosion.

No . . . no, no, no. He'd failed. This was all his fault . . . oh god, Hunk. He was so sorry. He should have made a better plan . . . there was no way Hunk could have survived that. Oh god, he should have done better. Now Hunk was gone . . . oh, Hunk . . . Hunk, Hunk, Hunk . . .

No, he had to believe Hunk was okay. There was still a chance he'd gotten to his Lion. Lance couldn't give up hope. He had to stay strong . . . for Hunk, whether he was dead or alive.

Lance flew towards the mine, trying to get a good look at the integrity of the area while simultaneously keeping the fire away from the mines. If there was even the smallest chance Hunk was still alive, Lance wasn't about to let him get hit again.

"Hunk, come on!" Lance yelled. "Please, buddy!"

Lance yelled as he was hit, unable to move the Lion has he got hit again and again.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no!" Lance yelled as the Lion fell. "Going down! We're going down!" He grunted as he tried to move, but the Lion fell, hitting the ground with a jostling bounce. It rolled towards a wall, managing to stop but barely able to stand. Lance realized there was no way he was going to fight the jets off at this point . . . his Lion could barely function and it needed time to cool down. Electric shocks were being sent through the entire Lion as she rumbled, telling Lance she wasn't ready to fight. He just needed some backup . . . God, why had they come here all alone?

Lance breathed as alarms blared, looking up and at the fighters closing in on him. "Oh no . . . " he said, watching helplessly as the jets fired at him.

This was it.

He was going to die.

Lance closed his eyes, bracing for impact.

And then . . . 

And then the Yellow Lion shot out of the ground, blocking the incoming missiles. 

Hunk had saved him.

Lance didn't see much as the smoke cleared, but he was pretty sure the Yellow Lion just did a belly flop onto the jets and crushed them. Damn.

"You okay, Lance?" he heard Hunk say through his Lion's radio as the Yellow Lion stood.

"Hunk!" Lance let out a breath he'd barely realized he'd been holding in, relief overwhelming him. "I thought you were dead! You jumped right in front of all those shots and saved my life!"

"Well, actually," Hunk began as he appeared on Lance's screen, smiling bashfully, "I was trying to get out of the way. Thankfully, what this thing lacks in speed, it more than makes up for in armor. Man, can it take a beating!" Hunk turned as more jets came, firing at them. "Ooh?"

"We've got incoming!" Hunk said, using his Lion to cover Lance.

Lance turned to see Allura appear on his screen, looking worried. "Paladins, please hurry back!" she sounded weak as she pleaded, "I can't hold the wormhole much longer!"

"Let's get outta here!" Lance grinned, blasting off with Hunk towards the wormhole. Lance heard Hunk get hit, but his armor held up. They just had to make it to the wormhole, then they could make sure nobody was too hurt. 

"Ah—!" Hunk yelped, sounding about ready to puke again. "Not this again...! Oh..."

"Quit screwing around, Hunk," Lance chided, "the wormhole is closing!"

Seconds later, they entered the wormhole, finally able to breathe. Lance closed his eyes for a moment, ignoring the turbulence that he was soon getting used to.

"You okay, Hunk?" he asked, opening his eyes.

"Yeah, man. Just a . . . a little shaken up," Hunk replied.

"Okay," Lance nodded, and they soon exited the wormhole.

What a wild ride that was.

* * *

Lance and Hunk groaned in pain as they entered the bridge, rubbing their sorest spots as they walked. Lance would kill for a bath right now . . . God, his back felt terrible.

"You made it," Allura smiled, relieved.

"Yeah, just barely, that was a nightmare," Lance said as he stretched his arm. "I almost  _puked_ out there. I felt like Hunk!"

"Think how I felt," Hunk rubbed his head, "I  _am_ Hunk."

"Yeah . . . " Pidge looked at Shiro, raising a brow while he smirked. "We had a tough time too," he grinned.

Somehow, Lance didn't believe that.

"Did we find the Red Lion yet?" Shiro asked, looking away from Pidge.

"Allura just located it," Coran informed them. "There's a bit of good news and bad news. The good news is, the Red Lion's nearby," Coran said, twirling his mustache. "The bad news is, it's on board that Galra ship now orbiting Arus. But wait, good news again. We're Arus!"

That . . . was  _not_ good news. Lance and Hunk had barely survived fighting some Galra fighter jets . . . how were they supposed to handle a warship?

"They're here already?!" Shiro asked, distraught.

"Yes," Coran confirmed. "Guess my calculations were a bit off. Finger counting—I-It's more of an art than a science. Hmm?" Coran turned as a transmission appeared on the screen, showing a big purple alien dude with a robotic eye that Lance was pretty sure could kill him in three seconds flat.

 _"Princess Allura, this is Commander Sendak of the Galra Empire."_ the alien introduced himself.  _"I come on behalf of Emperor Zarkon, Lord of the Known Universe. I am here the confiscate the Lions. Turn them over to me, or I_ will _destroy your planet."_   The transmission ended, and everyone stared at where Sendak had formerly been in shock.

Oh. Shit.

"Alright," Lance immediately turned to look at Shiro when he spoke, "let's not panic."

" _Not_  panic?" Hunk repeated, already anxious. "Th-The scary purple alien thing is driving his battleship toward us. We only have _four Lions_."

"Technically, only  _three_ working Lions," Pidge corrected.

"That's right, thank you, Pidge," Hunk patted his shoulder, walking towards the middle of the group, " _three_ working Lions, a-and a castle that's like ten thousand years old!"

"A-Actually, it's ten thousand _six hundred_ years old," Coran smiled proudly. "You see, it was built by my grandfather—"

"Thanks, Coran," Hunk put a finger to the man's mouth, shutting him up so he could continue. "Thank you for that. See? Now is the  _perfect time_  to panic!"

"Wait!" Allura suddenly said, a look of realization dawning on her face. "This castle has a particle barrier we can activate."

Lance cocked his head and gave a small grin, "girl, you've already activated my par--"

 _"Lance!"_ Shiro glared at him, shutting him right up.

Fine, he'd flirt later. Once the mission was over.

"The particle barrier won't hold Sendak's ion cannon forever," Coran said, a layout of Sendak's ship on the screen with a focus on the ion cannon. "The Galra technology must have advanced since we fought them last."

"Panic now?" Hunk looked to Shiro, as if asking permission.

"No, we've just got to figure out our plan of action," Shiro said, "aaand... figure it out quickly."

"I say we pop through a Wormhole and live to fight another day," Lance suggested. There was just no way they could fight off Sendak, and Lance did not feel like dying as a sitting duck, thank you.

"I second that, yes." Hunk said. "I mean, we tried to find all the Lions, right? We gave it the old college try. Couldn't do it. We only have three. We can't form Voltron. I mean, I guess we could form a... snake? Or a worm!" Hunk looked at Lance with a grin, "to go through that hole, Lance, that you were talking about."

"Then it's settled," Lance grinned, walking over towards the Princess. "Allura, you ride with me. One of you take the old guy?"

Coran did not look very happy about that, but Lance didn't really care at the moment. He just wanted to get off this planet and, you know,  _not die._

"We can't just abandon Arus," Pidge argued. "The Galra will keep destroying planets and capturing prisoners until we stop them."

"Okay. If we run, then maybe Sendak will follow us and leave this planet alone, like when we left Earth," Hunk speculated. "We form the snake-worm thingamajig and we— _hisss_  out of here."

"Sendak could destroy the planet and then come after us anyway," Keith said, looking up from his emo brooding (at least, that's what Lance guessed he'd been doing). "Staying is our only option."

Oh no. No, no, no, no. Staying was the option that got them  _killed_ , therefore the only  _stupid_ option. Of course, Keith was an idiot, so Lance wasn't surprised.

"Here's an option:  _shut your quiznack,_ " Lance said, making a zipping motion with his hand.

"I don't think you're using that word correctly," Keith snapped.

"What do  _you_ know, Mullet?" Lance leaned forwards to show dominance, frowning.

"We're _staying_!" Keith leaned forwards as well, brows furrowed in anger.

"Leaving!" Lance shouted.

"Staying!" Pidge yelled.

"Snake!" Hunk cried.

"Guys, _stop_!" Shiro ordered. At that point, Lance and Keith had the tops of their heads smashed together as they glared at one another, both crossing their arms. They physically parted to their own side of the argument (Hunk and Lance vs Keith and Pidge) once Shiro glared again, still watching one another with angry expressions. 

"Princess Allura," Shiro began, "these are your Lions," Lance looked at Allura for a moment as Shiro spoke, though his expression stayed the same. "You'vedealtt with the Galra empire before. You know what we're facing better than any of us, what do you think is the best course of action?"

"I . . . I-I don't know," Allura looked down in shame, though in Lance's opinion she shouldn't feel bad about it. Of course, he wanted her to choose his side, but . . . he supposed Shiro was right, she knew better than them. 

"Perhaps your father can help," Coran said after a moment. Wait, wasn't Allura's father, like . . . dead?

"My father?" Allura repeated questioningly, straightening up a bit.

Coran moved his head to the side as if to say "follow me", and he and Allura left to go to another part of the castle. Lance rose a brow once they left, looking to the others to see if he'd missed something. None of them seemed to know what was going on either, though. How exactly could Allura talk to her dead father? Was he . . . were there  _ghosts_ on Altea?!

Soon enough Coran returned, though Allura wasn't with him. He explained that King Alfor (that must have been Allura's father's name) had created some sort of A.I. to give her guidance after he died. Lance thought that was both cool and creepy, though he hoped it could be trusted. A.I. always ended up taking over in movies and stuff . . . but then again, he was currently on a magical castle with giant sentient robot Lions, so maybe A.I. taking over wasn't really a possibility.

Maybe ten minutes later, the doors opened, revealing Allura -- now dressed in a futuristic-looking white space suit. She looked determined as she spoke, "you five Paladins were brought here for a reason." Was she giving them an inspirational speech? Well, Lance better listen, then. If they ended up staying he was going to need a _lot_ of inspiration to stay alive. "The Voltron Lions are meant to be piloted by  _you_ , and you alone. We must  _fight_ , and keep fighting until we defeat Zarkon." Okay, so they were staying. But . . . hey, maybe they  _could_ defeat this Sendak guy. "It is our destiny. Voltron is the universe's only hope." Wait . . . so if they failed, they'd be letting down the entire universe? Okay, that was a lot of pressure. Yeah, it would be awesome to save the universe, but . . . could they do this? Lance wasn't sure. " _We_ are the universe's only hope."

"We're with you, Princess," Shiro said, and though it was true, Lance was still scared out of his mind. How the heck were three astronauts-in-training, one idiot dropout, and an astroexplorer supposed to save the universe?!

With a nod, Allura led them through the castle, taking them to what seemed to be an armory. The lights turned on to reveal five suits of armor inside pods similar to the ones Allura and Coran had come out of, each one a different color that Lance assumed corresponded with the Lions. Okay, even if he was still scared, this was pretty cool.

"Your suits of armor," she said, gesturing towards them.

"Cool!" Lance exclaimed to himself as he stared up at his suit in awe. The others murmured similar things, everyone seeming to forget about the impending danger and focusing on how awesome this armor was. It wasn't like there were giant spikes on the helmets or anything (though, that would probably be pretty impractical in retrospect), but they were sleek and looked like they'd provide a very good amount of protection against most weapons. Of course, they probably wouldn't survive a bomb or something in them, but everything had its limits.

"Boys," Shiro said, all of them turning to look at him, "it's time to suit up!"

Okay, definitely the coolest thing Lance had ever heard someone say to him.

There were changing rooms inside the armory that they used to don their armor, and even though it was cheesy, Lance struck a few poses in the mirror before coming back out. The team stood in front of Allura and Coran (looking super cool) before Allura walked over to a table to show them their weapons.

Allura set her hand on the blue surface of the table, the surface dissolving to reveal Bayards that floated up as she spoke. "The Bayard is the traditional weapon of the Paladins of Voltron. It takes a distinct shape for each Paladin."

They Bayards floated over to them, and when Lance caught his it immediately turned into a huge gun. Lance laughed happily at the sight of it, moving to hold it as if he was going to shoot, "woo!"

Lance watched as Pidge moved his around, smirking as he noticed it was literally just the Bayard with a knife head. "Aw, you got a cute little Bayard."

Pidge hit him with it in response, which -- ELECTROCUTED HIM?! WHAT THE HELL?! THIS HURT! Lance yelled as he fell over in pain, grunting once he hit the floor. Ow . . . why did this keep happening to him?

"Yeah, it is pretty cute," Pidge smirked, and Lance could only try to recover from the shock as quickly as he could so he could get up again.

_Note to self: don't tease Pidge when he's near a weapon._

"Shiro, I'm afraid _your_ Bayard was lost with its Paladin," Allura said with a somber expression.

"I . . . guess I'll just have to make due," he smiled in a "don't worry about it" kind of way.

Lance wondered for a moment how exactly Shiro was going to do that before Pidge outstretched a hand to him, "come on, Lance, get off the floor. It didn't hurt that bad."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Lance rolled his eyes, though he did take Pidge's hand. He immediately looked over to Keith, who was trying to stifle his laughter, and gave him a glare, crossing his arms with a "hmph!"

"Alright, now follow me," Allura said, calling everyone's attention back to her. "We still have much to do."

Once they arrived back on the Bridge, Allura pulled up a large map of Sendak's ship, all of them looking at it as she explained, "you'll need to retrieve the Red Lion from Sendak's ship."

"That's a . . . pretty big ship," Keith pointed out (even though it was super obvious, idiot.) "How are we gonna know where the Red Lion is?"

"Well, it's not a matter of  _we_ ," Pidge smirked, looking at Keith, "it's a matter of  _you_."

"Pidge is right," Hunk agreed. "Once we get you in, you'll be able to  _feel its presence_  and track it down."

"Yeah," Lance grinned, more than happy to be explaining something to Keith (it proved how he was obviously much smarter than him, after all.) "You know how you felt that crazy energy while we were in the desert?" Lance smirked, crossing his arms.

"Yeah," Keith looked at him, "you made fun of me for that."

"And I'm proud of that," Lance's smirk was constant as he continued, "but turns out it's exactly like that mumo-jumbo."

 ****"Keith, remember," Allura reminded, "the Red Lion is _extremely_  temperamental. You'll have to  _earn_  its respect."

Keith gave a curt, determined nod before Shiro put a hand on his shoulder, "alright. Here's our plan of attack . . . "

* * *

As Lance approached the Galra warship in his Lion, he could only hope their plan would go well. He remembered Shiro's words clearly in his mind (somehow, even with his ADHD brain) as they carried out the plan.

_The Galra Empire knows about the Blue and Yellow Lion, but they don't know we have the Green Lion, too. Hunk, Lance, you'll act as a decoy by pretending to give yourselves up._

Hunk flew next to him in the Yellow Lion, probably even more nervous than Lance was. There were about a billion things that could go wrong with this plan, and Lance was internally going through all of them, but he knew he had to focus if they wanted to get the Red Lion. He could only hope the Green Lion was undetected as Pidge flew it under Sendak's ship. With a shaky breath, Lance called in a transmission to Sendak's ship, face stoic once he got a connection.

"Attention Galra ship," he began, hoping he looked serious and not suspicious. "Do not fire. We're surrendering our Lions." He ended the transmission immediately after that, giving a relieved breath once he was sure it was gone. Hopefully, that had been convincing.

"Hope this works . . . " he said softly to himself, a small frown on his face as he stared at the giant bay doors of the ship.

_While Sendak is distracted, Keith, Pidge, and I will sneak onto the ship in the Green Lion. Keith and I will find the Red Lion while Pidge guards our exit. Hunk, Lance, find some way to take down that ion cannon._

The doors opened, like giant jaws ready to snap once they went in and eat them. But getting stuck inside that ship would be worse than being eaten . . . at least when you were eaten, you knew you were going to be swallowed and then die in stomach acid. The Galra, Lance guessed, would enjoy watching them suffer before delivering the final blow.

"Pidge, what's your ETA?" Lance asked through the comms, praying that the Galra couldn't intercept them.

"We're in," Pidge responded, voice at a low whisper. Good . . . now to take down the cannon.

A bright light began to shine from inside the ship, widening as it charged.

"What's that thing?" Hunk asked anxiously.

"I think that's our signal to get out of here!" Lance suggested, moving his Lion out of the way right before the light grew into a large beam meant to pull them inside. Lance watched as Hunk got out of the way as well, relieved before he noticed the many fighters coming out of the ship. Alright, he could do this. He had this.

"Hunk, you dismantle the ion cannon while I take these jerks on a space ride!" Lance smirked.

"Ten-four!" Hunk responded as Lance flew toward the ship.

Lance grunted as he moved his Lion to blast at a few fighter ships, moving his controls forward to zoom towards another group and take them out. Over the comms, he heard something about Commander Holt being Pidge's father (that explained  _a lot_ ) and that Keith was going to be on his own. Lance hoped he could get to his Lion to provide some backup . . . Lance continued to take out the fighters, just barely avoiding a few well-aimed shots at his Lion. It was a lot easier moving around in space where he didn't have to worry about rocks or trees, but he still had to remember to keep the fighters away from the ship. Luckily, he doubted any of them would decide to fire on their own crew.

"What the quiznack?" Hunk suddenly said. Lance looked towards him to see his Lion near the ship . . . which had a purple force field around it. "What is that? A force field?"

Quiznack! How were they going to destroy the ion cannon now?!

Lance groaned, leaving that to Hunk for the moment as he continued to fire at the fighters, flying off towards Arus as he did so. He could hear Allura and Coran saying something about the particle barrier through the comms, which . . . crap, didn't sound good at all. Nothing about this plan was going well, but Lance had to focus on his own part of it. Couldn't be dead weight, now could he? The Cuban kept that in mind as he rammed into a few fighters, shooting at others nearby. At least he was doing well.

 _"Thank you, friends,"_ Allura said through the comms. Wait . . . what happened? Something about the mice, right? Did the mice fix the particle barrier?

No time to think about that now, he had to keep fighting. It was . . . actually kind of fun, now that he was winning!

Lance had to maneuver his Lion to do a backflip to avoid a particularly close shot from one of the larger jets, which he soon countered with a grunt and a shot from his Lion's tail, taking out all the other ships in range. No way was he going down now . . . he heard Keith saying something to himself, and then Pidge talking about what Lance assumed was a drone that he reprogrammed and named "Rover". That seemed useful in the long run, but Lance really wished they would hurry out of there so he could take a break from fighting these ships all on his own. Still, he could make due.

"Woo-hoo! Yeah, buddy!" Lance yelled out as he flew past some more ships, avoiding the shots directed at him. Okay, he was actually really liking this. Maybe it was the adrenaline, but he couldn't help but yell, "this is way more fun without Hunk's barfing!"

Lance hissed a bit as he noticed Hunk's Lion floating away from the ship after attempting to ram into the force field. That must have hurt a bit, though Lance was sure Hunk would be fine. 

Suddenly, Keith was practically screaming into the comms, which Lance guessed meant he hadn't . . . how had Allura put it? "Earned its respect." Lance hoped he could figure out how to do that soon because as fun as blowing up random fighters was, they should really get out of here and back to the Castle. As Lance fought he paid close attention to Keith's comm channel, frowning a bit as he noticed he was making a lot of "I'm about to lose" noises. He sounded like he was really struggling . . .

_Come on, Mullet. You can do this._

Lance couldn't think about that any longer, however, because he was suddenly being bombarded by a lot of ships that he needed to take down. He shot at them with a few grunts, maneuvering his Lion as to not get hit himself. Once that was over with, he heard Keith say something that Lance was  _sure_ was directed towards his Lion, and he let out a relieved sigh. Keith had the Red Lion, now all they had to do was get back to Arus.

"Come on, just _break_ you stupid thing!" Hunk shouted, and Lance looked over to see him blasting his cannon at the force field. Finally, after a moment, it broke! Lance smiled before turning back to fight again, hearing Hunk say, "score one for Hunk!"

Suddenly, the other Lions came up next to Lance. With a grin, Lance followed them past the (now destroyed) ion cannon.

"You guys made it!" Hunk shouted as they passed, his Lion sitting on top of the ship.

"Kitty Rose has left the stage!" Pidge announced.

"Let's get the heck out of here!" Lance suggested, already flying towards Arus.

"I hope I stopped that cannon," Hunk said, "I could barely make a dent in it!"

* * *

 

Soon enough, they were entering the atmosphere, escaping the ship for a while. Now that they had all the Lions, all they had to do was figure out how to form Voltron. Lance was feeling pretty optimistic, though it might have just been the adrenaline, but he was glad they'd succeeded in their mission. They'd worked pretty well together!

Lance landed his Lion near the door to the Black Lion, making sure he was in the spot Allura had told him to land. The presence of the four Lions was supposed to be enough to open the door and release the Black Lion, which Shiro would then pilot. Lance watched as Shiro stood in front of the door, each Lion slowly lighting up around him. The teen had wide eyes as he saw the door light up as well, before it finally lifted, revealing the Black Lion. The Lion roared, and then so did the others, which Lance had a feeling meant Shiro was accepted as the Black Paladin.

The sudden flashing red lights in the Castle left no time for celebration, though, as it meant the Galra were approaching the planet.

"Oh quiznack!" Lance heard Coran say through the comms.

"Sendak is entering the Arusian atmosphere," Allura informed them. "We need Voltron now!"

Lance saw Shiro rush into his Lion, which roared before launching, Lance and the others following him out. They all landed outside of the Castle (though under the protection of the particle barrier) to see Sendak's ships firing and trying to break through. Since the tech of the barrier was ten thousand years old, Lance didn't expect it to last too long against the Galra ships, especially if they somehow got that ion cannon working again.

Shit. Lance must have jinxed it because suddenly, the ship was firing up its ion cannon, which soon fired at the particle barrier, hitting them all with a huge blast. Lance grunted in pain at the sheer force that managed to get through the barrier, hearing the others all do the same before the blast dissipated.

" _Man_ , those Galra guys repair things fast," Hunk muttered through the comms.

"The barrier gets weaker with every blast," Coran warned. "Once that shield goes down, the Castle will be defenseless!"

"I can give you cover with the Castle defenses for a while," Allura shouted over the ships firing at the barrier, "but you _have_ to form Voltron  _now_ or we'll all be destroyed!"

"Geez, no pressure," Hunk said sarcastically.

The ion cannon fired a second time, the barrier wavering for a moment before managing to stay strong again. Still, it was weakening, and before long it would be destroyed. Lance grunted under the force, stopping in time to hear Shiro speak.

"Listen up, Team Voltron!" the man began, "the only way to succeed is to give it all you've got! This looks bad, but we can do this! Are you with me?"

Lance nodded silently, his teeth clenched as he looked out at the battleship, determined.

"I'm nodding? Is everyone else nodding?" Lance heard Hunk say.

"Yes," Lance said in unison with Pidge and Keith.

"Let's do this!" Shiro shouted, his Lion running off towards the barrier. The others followed, exiting the barrier under heavy fire.

"Uh, how?" Lance asked, trying to remember if Allura had ever told them  _how_ to form Voltron.

"Good question," Keith responded, "does anyone have any ideas of how to form Voltron?"

"I don't see a 'Combine Into Giant Robot' button anywhere on my dashboard," Hunk replied as they ran along the bridge, the fighter jets firing on them as they jumped off onto the ground below. 

"This is insane!" Pidge yelled. "Can't they just cease fire for one minute so we can figure this out? Is that too much to ask?"

The Green Lion broke from the pack, jumping up to catch a ship in her mouth before throwing it at another ship, causing it to blow up. Damn, Pidge must have been really angry . . . rightly so, but still. Behind Lance, Keith used his Lion to shoot at two other fighter jets before turning back to the rest of them.

"We've got to do _something_ ," Keith shouted.

"Combine!" Hunk yelled, ramming his Lion into Keith's. The Red Lion fell over upon impact, Keith yelling "hey!" in response. "Okay, that didn't work," Hunk said before another ship came down to shoot at them. The two Lions ran away, coming back towards the rest.

"Quickly, Paladins!" Allura urged them, appearing on each of their screens. "Our energy levels are getting low!" She grunted at another hit to the barrier, disappearing from their screens. Lance hoped that wasn't because she didn't have enough power to stay there.

"Maybe if we fly in formation, we'll just . . . combine," Shiro speculated. "Take off on my cue. One, two, three, Voltron!"

They all jumped off the cliff ahead, flying up in formation.

"Here we go!" Keith said.

"Come on, come one!" Lance said through clenched teeth, trying to focus solely on forming Voltron.

"Nothing's happening," Shiro said after he grunted.

"Hey, w-wait, wait, wait!" Lance interrupted, eyes widening. "I feel something!"

"I do, too," Hunk announced. "I feel it. It's like we're all being pulled in the same direction!"

"Uh, guys, I think I know why!" Shiro told them, "look up!"

Ah shit. They were stuck in a tractor beam.

"What the  _cheese_?" Lance frowned.

"Sendak's ship is sucking us in like a black hole!" Pidge cried.

The warship sent another blast from its ion cannon, hitting the particle barrier and destroying it. Shit, shit, shit!

"Oh no!" Shiro exclaimed.

"I-I-I don't care what you say, Shiro!" Hunk said, sounding ready to cry. "I'm panicking now!"

Hunk's screaming was a constant as everyone began to panic themselves, realizing that this might be the end for them . . .

"It can't end here!" Pidge yelled in denial. But Lance knew it could . . . god, they were going to be captured, tortured, killed . . . he was never going to see his family again. He'd failed.

"This is it!" he cried, blinking away the tears in his eyes.

"It's been an honor flying with you boys," Keith said, and Lance was too sad to be angry at him for being so accepting of his death. Stupid Keith . . . stupid Galra.

Hunk continued screaming, letting out a painful, "oh, no!" as he did so. 

Lance could barely believe it . . . they were going to die. God, they were going to die.

The ship was charging up the cannon again. One more blast and they were gone. One more blast . . . and his life was over. His family would never know where he'd gone, he was never going to find love, he'd never even graduate high school . . .

He'd failed.

"No!" Shiro said suddenly, pulling Lance out of his depressing thoughts. What did he _mean_ , "no"?! There was nothing they could do! "We can do this," Lance straightened up at Shiro's words; his hero's optimism seemed to be contagious. "We have to believe in ourselves. We can't give up. We are the universe's only hope. Everyone is relying on us." Shiro was right, they couldn't give up. Lance still had a chance to save his family, but he had to keep fighting. Lance's brows lowered in determination as he continued, "we can't fail! We won't fail! If we work together, we'll win together!"

Shiro had somehow managed to bring hope back to Lance's heart, and everyone else's appearance, because they all yelled, "yeah!" in response.

The Lions roared in unison as they all regained their confidence. Lance got a surge of some emotion that he couldn't place . . . a mix of trust, assurance, determination, and tenacity that seemed to come from his Lion . . . quintessence. That must be it. It felt good, and suddenly Lance felt a rush as his Lion broke free from the beam, moving towards the others with a roar. It all moved so quickly, but suddenly . . . Lance felt bonded with his teammates. Like he could feel their souls or something . . . 

_Oh my god . . . we formed Voltron._

Realization dawned on Lance as they flew Voltron up to punch the ion cannon with the Red Lion, diverting the blast meant for the Castle. 

"I can't believe it!" Keith cried.

"We formed Voltron!" Pidge exclaimed.

"I'm a leg!" Hunk shouted.

"How are we doing this?" Lance asked, unable to keep the smile off his face.

"I don't know," Shiro almost laughed, "but let's get that cannon!"

Voltron used its arms (the Red and Green Lions) to rip the ion cannon off the ship, throwing it to the side like it was nothing. They then used the Red Lion to punch into the ship's interior, blasting through the entire ship and taking off a huge chunk with a massive explosion. Voltron flew up, then slammed down into the ship through the newly-made hole, using the Green Lion to blast inside, causing even more explosions. They were actually doing this! They were defeating a giant warship!

Voltron flew up, doing a backflip before they charged at the ship, the arms out in front in a Superman pose. They all yelled as they approached, plowing right through the ship with a blast and causing the main haul to explode behind them. Voltron landed just as the entire ship exploded, looking towards the Castle as they took a moment to catch their breath.

They flew back to the Castle, Lions separating as they landed. They all got out of their Lions and gathered in front of the Castle, Allura and Coran rushing out the doors with wide smiles.

"Good work, Paladins!" Allura congratulated them.

Lance took off his helmet, giving a tired smile, "thanks, pretty lady."

"We did it," Shiro said, almost as if he couldn't believe it. To be fair, neither could Lance.

"Heck yeah, we did," Keith said, taking off his helmet and smiling. He looked super sweaty, but Lance couldn't make fun of it since he was, too. Damn it.

"How did we do it?" Shiro asked, then looked towards Hunk, who struggled to get his helmet off as he spoke.

"I was just, like, screaming the whole time," Hunk said, grinning. "Maybe that did it."

Pidge just put his glasses back on, looking dejectedly at the ground.

Shiro placed a hand on his shoulder, voice soft as he spoke, "we're not going to stop searching until we find your brother and father. Wherever they are, I know they'd be proud of you." Pidge smiled at that before they all turned to Allura.

"We won the battle, but the war has only just begun," Allura looked down, "I'm afraid Zarkon will not stop until he gets these Lions."

 ****"Good thing you Paladins know what you're doing," Coran said, "because you're going to have to form Voltron again and again."

"Totally-- wait, what?!" Hunk lowered his head, and Lance did the same.

"We barely survived forming Voltron this one time," Lance murmured.

"And you only had to fight one ship!" Coran leaned forwards, crossing his arms. "Wait until you have to fight a whole fleet of them! It's not going to be easy being the Defenders of the Universe," he pulled at his mustache.

Lance rose a brow at the title as he scratched his head, realizing just how big of a job was being bestowed upon them . . . they had to protect the _entire universe_ from the Galra. The  _entire. freaking. universe._

"Defenders of the Universe, huh?" Shiro smiled, turning to look up at the Lions, "that's got a nice ring to it."

Lance smirked, agreeing. Even though this was going to probably be the hardest job, like,  _ever_ , Lance was confident that they could do this. With a little training, a little motivation, and a lot of hard work . . . they could live up to their title. They had to, after all. Everyone in the universe depended on it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof, I accidentally posted this a bit early, but now it's finally done! I hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter (it's the longest by far) though obviously, it's exactly the same as the first episode. Most of the Klance will start up after the Bonding Moment™, though of course, the rivalry is a big part of their relationship for the first few episodes/chapters. I hope you guys like this rewrite, I know it's not the most original thing but it's all from Lance's perspective so hopefully, that can bring something to the table!  
> Thank you so much for reading!


	2. Some Assembly Required

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The paladins have to learn to work together, but can they? Lance isn't so sure.

Lance had managed to steal Pidge's headphones the night before, allowing him to fall asleep to the sounds of soft Spanish music that was much like what his mother always played. Falling asleep to music was actually a little more difficult than Lance had expected (stupid ADHD . . . why couldn't he just be peaceful and not focus on every single thing around him for once?) but he'd eventually managed to fall asleep once he'd let his thoughts overpower the music. Those thoughts, paired with closed eyes, eventually lead to him falling asleep, his dreams luckily peaceful.

When Lance finally woke up, a yawn leaving his mouth as he sat up a bit on the bed that was now his and took off his sleep mask, he was a bit surprised that the headphones were still playing music. Apparently, the iPod-thingie had a lot of battery. Lance took off the headphones, setting them down on his bed before he got up, stretching a bit. He stepped into the adorable Blue Lion slippers he'd found in his closet that matched the blue robe perfectly before walking over to his bathroom and wiping off the face mask he'd put on the night before. His skin seemed softer than it usually did, which hopefully meant that he'd chosen the right cream to put on his face last night. He'd definitely be using it again.

_Note to self: find some more of these skincare products._

Once Lance fixed his hair a bit, he gave a satisfied hum to his reflection. He struck a few cool-guy poses, winking at himself before rolling his eyes and chuckling. He remembered how his older sister Veronica used to make fun of him for doing that, though he was pretty sure he'd caught her flirting with her own reflection once before she went on a date . . . he missed that. He missed her. But he shouldn't think about it too much, or he'd only get upset. 

With that in mind, Lance walked out into the hallway, heading towards the bridge to see if anyone else was awake. The sun was just rising, so he figured a few of them would be. He spotted a floating tray flying around and took a cup of water from it, sipping it with a soft smile.

When Lance walked onto the bridge, he saw the entire team -- Shiro in his freaking armor -- and yawned, "good morning, everybody. What's going on?"

"Coran and I have been up for hours getting the Castle back in order," Allura answered, tone harsh as Lance walked up to join the group. "We had to run a test on the alarms, and we decided to test  _you_ as well. Guess which one failed?" her brows lowered, a look of disappointment that could rival his mother's directed at him.

"Hey!" Hunk yawned, "you got to sleep for 10,000 years, man. Monday night, I was on Earth. Now, I've flown through space, fought some evil alien named Zarkon, eaten goo in some weird Castle. That's a lot to process in, uh . . . I don't know. What day is today?"

"It's the third quintant of the Spicolian movement," Coran supplied. "Hump day!"

"It's a lot to process," Hunk concluded, rubbing his neck.

"You must understand the stakes of our mission," Allura said, pulling up the controls as she continued, "over the last ten thousand years, the Castle picked up distress beacons from the following locations," the starmap filled the room, symbols appearing to show the many distress beacons throughout the universe. There were . . . a  _lot_ of them. "So, we have to assume that Zarkon has conquered almost the entire known universe," she concluded, many of the planets and stars turning red as if to make her words scarier.

"Earth is here," Allura continued, moving the map to show the Milky Way Galaxy. It was still surrounded by blue, but the red areas were too close for comfort, even if they were lightyears away. "An attack on your planet is inevitable."

"Oh, no . . . " Hunk murmured, and Lance felt exactly the same.

He couldn't let Earth be attacked . . . his family was there. His family was too important to die from some weird alien invasion,  _especially_ if he could help stop it. There was no way he was letting anyone get near Earth without a massive fight.

"Exactly. Our mission is to free all those planets," Allura said, the map disappearing. "Coran and I are getting the Castle ready to leave Arus. During that time, you have to learn to form Voltron, so we can begin fighting Zarkon."

"The Princess is right," Shiro agreed. "Let's get to our Lions and start training."

"Wait," Pidge looked at Shiro, "but I want to talk to the prisoners we rescued from the Galra ship."

"Uh, negative, Number Five!" Coran said, bending over to measure Pidge with his arms. "I have you ranked by height, okay?" he almost murmured, "the prisoners need to remain in the cryo-replenishers until tomorrow."

"That's right," Allura said. "Now get to your Lions."

The team gave their nods and agreements, each of them heading off to their respective elevators. Lance smirked as he walked into his, feeling somewhat like a superhero. Like . . . like Batman or something, going down his secret elevator to get to the Bat Cave. Lance put on his armor as the elevator lowered, having it on by the time the doors opened to reveal a zip-line. Lance jumped onto it, letting it pull him down the steep hall, blue lights surrounding him. A tunnel opened below him and he jumped in, landing in a blue Speeder that he drove down yet another blue-lit hallway towards his hangar. He stopped when he came up to a room, the floor elevating once he did so and taking him up towards his Lion. The floor stopped right below Blue, meshing with the rest of the room before he got out. He got into his Lion and flew out, meeting the rest of the team as they landed. The Yellow Lion was nowhere in sight, though Lance figured Hunk was just having trouble with the controls or something. He wasn't a trained pilot, after all.

After a few minutes of waiting, Lance finally spoke through the comms, " . . . should someone go in after him?"

Nobody responded, but the Yellow Lion soon came flying in, the Lions turning around to face the vast expanse of fields and lakes outside the castle.

"Hey, sorry, everybody," Hunk apologized as he landed. "Seriously, though, can't they park these things, like, a little closer to the Bridge?"

"All right, guys," Shiro began through the comms. "Let's just fly in tight formation until we're totally in sync."

Allura appeared on Lance's screen, a soft smile on her face. "Feel the _bond_ with your Lions, _and_ your fellow pilots until five become one unit and you form Voltron!"

Lance smiled at her words, feeling more confident now that he had something to aim for. He just had to feel their bond . . . whatever that meant. He could already hear Blue's soft rumbles in the back of his mind, small noises that comforted him like nothing else could. All he had to do was focus on that, right?

Lance gave a large grin as the Lions took off in sync, yelling "yeah!" along with his teammates. As they flew, they yelled it again, and Lance tried to focus on his bond. "Yeah!" they yelled again, though not as loudly as before. They turned, flying again before Lance realized that this was getting them nowhere. "Yay . . . " they all said, their voices monotone. 

"Wooo . . . " Hunk droned before he continued, "am I the only one who's still pretending to be excited?"

 _Yes,_ Lance thought, an unimpressed frown on his face.

"Clearly, this isn't working," Shiro said, everyone silently agreeing. "Let's set down for a little bit."

"Maybe we should be building Voltron from the ground up," Keith suggested (and Lance already hated whatever he was saying).

"What do you mean?" Shiro inquired.

"I mean let's try literally  _building_ Voltron," Keith explained (which sounded  _stupid_ ), "like, stacking on top of each other."

Lance scoffed, "like a cheerleader pyramid?"

"You got a better idea?" Keith shot back, and Lance frowned, brows lowering.

"It's worth a try," Shiro decided.

So, that's exactly what they did. Lance watched as the Green Lion landed next to him, the Red and Black Lions on top while the Yellow Lion took the place of the head. Lance was pretty sure that none of that was right (hadn't Hunk been a leg? Wasn't Pidge an arm?) but he said nothing, not really caring since there was no way this stupid idea was going to work.

"Hunk, what are you doing?" Shiro asked, his tone more like a father's than Lance had ever heard it. It made him hope it was never directed at him. (But who was he kidding, it would be.)

"What do you mean?" Hunk responded, confused.

"You're supposed to be the  _leg_ ," Shiro said, "over there."

"What?" Hunk questioned, though Lance was pretty sure he remembered. "No. No, no, no. I'm pretty sure that when we did it last time, I was the head. Right?"

"You yelled 'I'm a leg'!" Lance reminded him, getting tired of this stupid idea.

"Yeah, I was . . . yelling a lot of things," Hunk argued.

" _Shiro_ _'s_ the head," Keith said, sounding like he was holding back from yelling at all of them.

"All the time?" Hunk asked, sounding disappointed.

"Let's just try it my way for now," Shiro suggested, though it was really more of a command.

"Okay . . . but next time I call head," Hunk decided.

Lance groaned, really not in the mood to do this stupid thing again, but he complied, moving his Lion and letting Hunk join him on the bottom, Keith and Pidge on top, while Shiro carefully lowered his Lion.

"Okay," Shiro mumbled. "Arms and legs . . . and I'll form the head," he said, landing on top of them all. After a moment, he continued, "feel the bonds with your Lions." Lance did so, closing his eyes and focusing on Blue's soft purrs and assurances he could sense her throwing his way. "Now, channel your energy into forming Voltron." Lance moved his thoughts to his teammates, and to how amazingly they'd formed Voltron before, a small smile making its way onto his face as he remembered how cool they'd been. "Focus . . . focus . . . "

Lance focused as hard as he could, thinking about his team, about Voltron, about his Lion and how cool it was that he got to pilot her. This was taking a while, but he was sure if he just kept focusing they'd be able to do it. Any second now . . . any second . . .

"Is everyone bonding and focusing?" Shiro asked, and Lance opened his eyes, giving a small frown.

" _Why_ was this so much easier before?" Lance mumbled.

Shiro just sighed, "let's take a break."

"Sorry to interrupt," Allura suddenly said as she appeared on Lance's screen, surprising him a bit. "But I may be able to help. Yesterday, you weren't able to form Voltron until you were in the heat of battle."

"Yeah," Pidge replied.

"I'm listening . . . " Lance said.

"You're right," Shiro agreed.

"Yeah, I guess . . . " Keith reluctantly agreed.

"Perfect!" Allura smiled, "because I need to run a diagnostics test on all of the Castle's defenses. This should help!"

Lance didn't have time to realize what she meant before the Castle was firing at them through the particle barrier, small explosions all around them as the shots made impact. They all yelled as they ran away from the shots, Lance yelling, "okay, go, go!"

"Allura, what are you doing?!" Keith yelled through the comms.

"Running a diagnostic test on the Castle defenses _and_ inspiring you!" she answered with a smile. "I believe in you, Paladins! Let fear be your guide! Form Voltron!"

Lance didn't care how pretty she was, this girl was  _insane._

"Oh!" Lance yelped as a shot nearly hit him. "Forget this!" he broke off from the team, avoiding shots as his Lion ran back towards the barrier, "I'm heading back to the Castle!"

Blue avoided a few more shots before jumping up to the barrier, only for it to knock him back with a combined force and shock that caused Lance to let out a hurt groan before he crashed to the ground.

_What the hell?!_

"Please stop!" Lance heard Hunk say. "Please! Have mercy on us!"

"You think  _Zarkon_ is going to have mercy on you?" Allura leaned closer to the camera, "he's probably on his way right now to destroy us all!"

Lance saw Allura press something off-screen before she walked away, a computer's voice saying, " ** _auto-lock-on engaged._** "

That did  _not_ sound good.

Lance got up, barely avoiding more shots that fired at him as he wondered why the heck he'd ever thought that Princess was cool. She was really pretty, yeah, and she seemed nice for the most part, but he did  _not_ appreciate getting shot at! Especially since he barely had any idea what he was doing, flying this thing.

Lance let out another grunt as he jumped away from a shot, praying that this would all end soon.

* * *

Eventually, after what seemed like twenty years, the shooting stopped, the particle barrier falling and letting all of them let out relieved sighs. They flew their Lions back into the Castle without a word, all of them exhausted and glad the training was over. Once Lance got Blue back into her hangar and gave her controls a soft pat, he made his way to the lounge, where the others were sitting on the couch. Lance flopped down next to Hunk (his feet were by Keith, ew) and closed his eyes, wanting nothing more than to sleep for the rest of his life.

"Are we at full power on condenser number five yet?" Lance heard Allura say as she and Coran walked into the room.

"No, still just eighty-four percent," Coran replied.

"You did it!" Allura exclaimed when she noticed the paladins, Lance opening his eyes to look at her with a blank expression. He was too tired for this. "You formed Voltron!"

"No," Keith told her, arms crossed. "The shooting stopped, and the particle barrier shut down, so we just flew in."

" _What_ ," Allura's expression turned sour, he brows lowering.

"Oh, right," Coran began sheepishly, "uh, sorry, Princess. I had to turn off the Castle defenses to test the fire suppressors."

Allura just gave him an unimpressed look -- one that could rival Keith's, actually -- before Shiro entered from the other side of the room.

"What are you guys doing in here?" he put his hands on his hips, "we're not taking a break."

"Shiro's right," Allura said, "you should be training."

Hunk groaned, and Lance would have, too, if he had the energy. "We've  _been_ training. When are we going back to Earth?" Again, Lance agreed. When could he go back and protect his family from evil aliens? He was fine with protecting the universe and all, but he at least wanted to visit and tell his family he wasn't kidnapped.

"I'm not going back until I find my family," Pidge said, hunching over.

"Guys," Shiro said, calling the attention back to him. "There won't  _be_ an Earth if we don't figure out to fight Zarkon."

" _How_ are we going to fight?" Lance asked, sitting up. "We can't even figure out how to form Voltron."

"Well, I'm not surprised," Coran said, and Lance looked back at him. "You know, the original Paladins fought _hundreds_ of battles together, side-by-side. They were like a pack of Yalmors, linked at the ears," he pulled on his own ears, though that didn't really help Lance get what the heck a _Yalmor_ was.

"Wow . . . " Lance mumbled, "yeah, that's definitely not us," he flopped back down, his leg going up to rest on the back of the couch.

"During the last attack, your survival instincts forced you to work as a team," Coran explained, "but that will only get you so far. You'll have to become a  _real_ team to have any chance of forming Voltron and then beating Zarkon next time. You should try working out on the training deck!"

"There's a training deck?" Hunk rose a brow.

* * *

 

Coran led them to the deck and showed them the door to go in before he went to another part of the deck, which Lance soon realized was a control room as well as a nice place to watch a sparring match from a bird's eye view. The team got into a circle, a foot or two between each of them and their backs turned to each other. Lance had no idea what they were going to face, but he was sure they could take it.

The lights turned on in the deck as Coran's voice boomed through the speakers, his throat clearing before he spoke. _"Two, two, one, two,"_ he coughed, _"okay, listen up, guys. The Paladin code demands that you put your team members' safety above your own."_ Okay, Lance was cool with that. Of course, he'd protect Pidge or Hunk without a second thought, and Shiro, too if he needed it. Oh, and . . . maybe Keith, too. _"A swarm of drones is about to attack."_ Wait, what? Lance looked behind him, seeing that Keith did the same, and part of him wondered if Keith would even try to protect him. _"It's up to each of you to do everything you can to protect the other members of your team."_

The drones flew out as Coran finished, little orbs with single holes in them that Lance assumed were where the shots came out of. As the drones began to circle them, Keith and Pidge formed their shields, surprising Hunk. 

"Wait, wait, wait. What's going on—" he tensed when his shield formed. "Whoa! Did you guys get one of these?"

"Get ready," Shiro said as he and Lance formed their shields.

The drones began to fire, and Lance saw Hunk duck, causing Pidge to get hit. Dang it, Hunk! Lance loved that guy, but he really needed to get some courage, especially since if this was real Pidge would be pretty much dead by now.

 _"Protect your teammates or no one will be there to protect you!"_ Coran's voice warned them just as Hunk was shot and fell through the floor.

Lance clenched his teeth, backing up towards Keith and Shiro to form a tighter circle, holding their shields up to protect one another.

 _"Time to increase intensity,"_ Coran announced through the speakers.

The drones sped up immensely, becoming blurs as they shot at them. Lance struggled to block them all, but he was glad he had Shiro (and Keith) there with him.

"You keeping up over there, Keith?" Lance asked, hoping that teasing Keith would help him keep his mind clear so he could use his instincts to block the shots.

"Just concentrate on keeping me safe," Keith said, apparently not caring about teasing him back. Ugh, fine.

Lance just scoffed, "me? I own this drill. You're the one who needs to concentrate."

Suddenly, the drones shot lower, and Lance barely noticed it in time. He lifted his leg with a yelp, having no time to shield himself, and it ended up hitting Keith. Okay, as funny as that was, now it was just he and Shiro, and that wasn't going to work very well. Lance stretched his body out, trying to defend Shiro, but he got shot, falling through the floor and onto a mat. Lance groaned, rubbing his head and looking up at his teammates, which all looked at him, unimpressed.

"Hey, you guys all fell, too!" Lance said as he stood, taking off his helmet.

"Yeah, but _we_ weren't teasing each other," Keith said, arms crossed and brows lowered before Shiro fell through the floor.

 _"Alright, everyone go up the ladder and come up here with me,"_ Coran instructed. _"Lance, you go back onto the deck."_

"What? Why me?" Lance sighed, though he didn't complain anymore as he climbed the ladder, making his way to the middle of the room and looking up at the observation room. He looked back down, turning to face away from it as he saw holographic walls suddenly appear around him.

 _"To form Voltron, you must trust in each other,"_ Coran began. _"This ancient Paladin maze will teach you that trust. Your teammate can see the walls, but you cannot,"_ as Coran said that, the walls disappeared, and Lance gave a small frown. He didn't think this would go well. _"So, listen carefully. If you touch the walls, you'll get a slight shock."_

Lance put on his helmet before he turned his head, raising a brow. "Wait, who's guiding me through?"

"Take two steps forward," Keith said through his helmet.

"Oh, no. Not Keith," Lance frowned. "Why does he get to be the man on the mic?"

 _"Now, just sit tight. You'll get your turn,"_ Coran assured him.

"Like I said," Keith repeated, "take two steps forward, turn right, and take three steps that direction."

Lance turned right, taking two steps before he hit the wall, getting shocked and yelping. He turned to look up at Keith, "you did that on purpose!"

"You're not listening," Keith replied.

"You said, 'turn right'!" Lance shot back.

"But, before that, I said, 'Take two steps forward'," Keith reminded him. Okay, maybe he'd forgotten that part (again, ADHD brain). He'd just do it now.

Lance growled, then began moving, "two steps--" AGH! WHY DID THIS SHOCKING THING HURT SO MUCH?! Lance yelped, angry as he turned, "we're switching places right now!"

* * *

Lance may or may not have ended up purposefully guiding Keith in the wrong direction a few times during his turn, though he blamed it on the maze confusing him. Nobody could prove otherwise, though he had a feeling Keith was onto him. Still, it was payback for Keith's terrible directions, so it was fair.

Soon enough, Coran told them to get into their Lions for another exercise. They complied, getting outside within ten minutes before Coran began to instruct them again.

"You'll never be able to form Voltron unless each of you has a strong bond with his Lion," Coran explained through the comms as they flew in formation.

"No problem," Lance smirked, "me and Blue are best buds for life, for real."

"Perfect. Then you won't have any issues with this exercise." Coran bent down a bit, "everyone, put your Lions into a nosedive!"

Lance hesitantly did as he instructed once everyone else had, listening as Coran continued.

"This is an expert-level drill that you really shouldn't attempt until you've been flying for years, but, uh, we're in a bit of a rush, so here we go." Coran pulled up some controls, pressing a button as he said, "activating training helmets."

Suddenly, blackness filled Lance's vision, causing him to scream. "Ahh! Coran, what's happening? I can't see!" He moved his hands in front of his eyes, but he still couldn't see them. Was he blind? Was he dying? What the heck was happening?!

"You must learn to see through your  _Lion's_ eyes," Coran said. Wait . . . was that why he couldn't see? Was he just supposed to rely on Blue? Um, okay . . . he could do that. "The goal is to pull up right before you crash into the ground. Feel what the Lion feels!"

Hunk whimpered before saying, "mine feels scared!" Lance couldn't see, but he was pretty sure Hunk pulled up.

Lance tried to focus on his Lion's feelings, but he couldn't really understand what she was trying to tell him. A bit annoyed, Lance decided to just tease Keith again.

"You still going, Keith?" Lance asked, a smirk on his face.

"You know it," he answered. "You?"

Lance frowned a bit at the answer, realizing that the teasing helped nothing. Maybe if he tried harder, his Lion would speak to him?

"Going? I'm speeding up! Lance proclaimed, moving his controls forward.

"Oh, yeah?" Keith replied, and Lance was pretty sure he went faster, as well.

After a moment of flying, Lance moved his controls forwards a bit more, "must be getting close." He was a bit nervous because he still couldn't hear his Lion, but there was no way he was pulling up before Keith.

"Must be," Keith agreed.

"You gettin'  _scared_?" Lance smirked.

"I'M NOT SCARED!" Keith shouted, and Lance was pretty sure he sped up. Oh shit. Lance barely had time to react before he felt his Lion crash into what must have been a sand dune.

Lance felt his Lion topple over, rolling away as he grunted.

"I win," Lance declared tiredly, hearing Keith moan "ow" through his helmet.

Lance heard Pidge speaking through his helmet, but he didn't really care. He took off his helmet, closing his eyes and letting himself recover for a moment.

Soon enough, he felt his helmet vibrating with sound again, and he put his helmet back on, the blackness gone while he heard Coran speak. "Alright, everyone. Back to the Castle! We have one more exercise to do before you're ready."

* * *

They made their way back to the training deck, sitting down in a circle before they put on these weird headsets Coran handed them. Coran went up to the observation room again before speaking through the intercom once again.

 _"Now the most important part of Paladin training is being able to meld your minds and focus on one thing: Voltron,"_  Coran said, voice soft and relaxed to help them. _"Everything else has to fade away. This technique will be essential every time you form Voltron."_

Okay, Lance could do this. Just concentrate. Relax. Lance let his thoughts wander for a moment, thinking of his family. His family was why he was fighting. He was learning how to form Voltron so they could be safe.

_"So, relax and open your mind. No walls, no secrets between Paladins. Come on, everyone, clear everything."_

Lance could somehow tell that Hunk was thinking about sushi. Actually, that wasn't very surprising. But what was surprising was that he also knew Shiro was thinking about the Kerberos Mission, and Keith was thinking about his shack in the desert. Lance wondered why Keith would think of that before he noticed Pidge was thinking about the picture Hunk had found in his bag back in Keith's shack, though he couldn't tell for sure.

_"Now, focus on forming your Lion."_

Lance moved his thoughts to Blue, thinking of how safe she made him feel, and how he could use her to protect the people he loved. He focused on Blue, thinking about how it felt when they'd formed Voltron. How connected he'd felt to everyone. He could feel them forming Voltron with his mind, the headsets helping him to imagine it.

_"Keep your minds open, work together. Good! Keep focusing! Only one to go!"_

"Pidge, stop thinking of your girlfriend!" Keith snapped suddenly.

"I wasn't!" Pidge yelled. "Hunk was rooting around in my head."

"I-I thought we were open. You can look in my head-hole!" Hunk offered.

 _"Everyone has to be able to look in everyone's head-holes!"_ Coran said. _"Clear your minds!"_

Lance tried again, thinking of Blue and focusing on forming Voltron. He mentally moved his Lion towards the others, hearing Coran's encouraging words as he did so.

_"Good! Almost there."_

Lance felt Blue near the others, feeling the connection with them once again.

_"Now, form Voltron!"_

Lance felt his Lion moving to become the leg, feeling the others come together to form Voltron.

_"Yes!"_

Lance frowned, unable to feel what he'd felt before. When he opened his eyes, he soon realized that the Green Lion was turning to static, flickering to show that picture again.

"Pidge!" Lance said, annoyed.

Pidge growled, throwing his headset off and standing up. "I'm done with this!" he crossed his arms. "Look, I don't like everyone grubbing around in my head."

"Oh, come on, Pidge," Shiro pleaded, "we're starting to get the hang of this!"

"I'm just . . . " Pidge looked at the ground, "I'm just  _tired_ , okay?"

After a moment, Shiro gave up fighting him. "Okay. Let's take a break."

Coran came down and handed them packs of water, Lance leaning against Hunk happily as he sipped his. This was exactly what they needed.

"You have been working hard," Coran said. "Maybe it's time to relax a little."

That was, of course, when Allura stomped in, hands on her hips and mice on her shoulders as she judged them. "What are you doing lying around? You're supposed to be training!"

"Just resting a bit," Coran explained. "Y-you know, you can't push too hard."

"What do you  _mean_ 'can't push too hard'?!" Allura shouted. " _Get up_ you lazy lumps. It's time you faced the Gladiator!"

Lance sighed. He should have known the relaxation wouldn't last. He formed his Bayard before he stood up, Coran going up to the observation room again before his voice came in through the intercom.

_"In order to defeat the Gladiator, five paladins must fight as one."_

Lance turned as he heard something land on the floor, noticing an Altean robot with a polearm staff in the middle of them all. Was that what they were supposed to fight? It didn't look . . . _too_ hard . . .

 _Nevermind that!_ Lance thought as the Gladiator moved, rushing at Hunk, who fired at it and almost hit Keith. The Gladiator knocked him out, touching his stomach with the staff and shocking him.  _Okay, so Hunk's out._ Pidge rushed at the Gladiator, fighting it for at least longer than Hunk had before he was knocked over, landing on Hunk before bouncing off and falling to the ground. Lance rushed in to shoot at the robot from afar before it rushed up to him, hitting him. He stumbled back, continuing to shoot until the Gladiator suddenly knocked his gun out of his hands. It hit him right on his head, his shock wearing off in time to see Keith get hit before it turned back, hit him again, and then threw him into Keith, knocking them both out, their limbs tangled together. Keith soon got up though, going to block the Gladiator with his sword from hitting Shiro, who was frozen in place.

"Shiro, are you okay?" Lance watched Keith ask through gritted teeth, holding the Gladiator for the moment. Shiro didn't respond, and the Gladiator managed to hit Keith and slam him into Shiro.

Okay, they sucked.

Allura walked in angrily as the Gladiator powered down, falling to the floor. "That combat simulator was set at a level fit for an Altean child! You're not even  _close_  to working as a team, let alone ready to face Zarkon!"

Lance just groaned, getting up and looking at his teammates while Allura walked out of the room. Shiro stood with the help of Keith, then he moved his head towards the door, signaling them all to follow.

* * *

They made their way to the dining room, sitting down at the table tiredly. Lance sat next to Hunk and tried not to cringe when Keith sat on his right, trying instead to focus on the food goo in front of him. It was probably going to taste terrible, though . . . ugh.

"Ahoy, young Paladins!" Coran greeted them, setting down more weird food. "I've whipped up a big batch of focusing food. After this meal, you'll be forming Voltron six times a movement and twice on the astral conflux!"

"Smells great, Coran," Shiro smiled. "Thanks."

Lance was just grabbing his silverware when cuffs suddenly appeared around his wrists, his arms rasing on their own as the cuffs connected with his teammates'. That meant his left arm was connected to Hunk's, and his right arm . . . was connected to Keith's. Ughhhhhhh.

"Hold the phone!" Lance exclaimed, looking away from he and Keith's hands and looking at Coran.

"I saw a lot of solid individual performances today, but you're still struggling to work as a team. So, welcome to the final bonding exercise of the day," Coran smirked, and Lance just frowned.

Lance suddenly looked over as Hunk pulled his arm away, taking Lance's with it. Lance growled at him, then watched as he tried to do the same with his and Shiro's arms. Once he realized it wouldn't work, he frowned. "Coran, I want you to think about what you're doing."

"Oh, this one's a classic," Coran's grin was a constant. "You get to feed each other, like a pack of Yalmors!"

Lance just frowned at Hunk, then he groaned. This was not going to be fun.

Lance moved his hand to try and let hunk eat some goo, but he accidentally flung it onto his armor.

"Ow!" Hunk complained.

"Sorry," Lance apologized, trying again, but Hunk ended up moving Lance's hand into his mouth instead of the spoon. "Ew!" Lance moved his hand away, groaning before Hunk jerked him to the side to try and eat again. Lance looked down at his hand, which was in his goo, and noticed Keith's was in it, too. He looked at Keith with a frown, "oh, nice! You defiled my food goo!"

Keith frowned back, "it's your fault! This is _ridiculous_."

"Do Earthlings  _ever_ stop complaining?" Allura said, annoyed. Lance didn't think it was very fair, after all,  _she_ wasn't handcuffed to her best friend and her stupid rival.

"Can't you just give us a break?" Shiro said, "everyone's been working  _really_ hard today."

"Yeah!" Keith stood up. "We're not some prisoners for you to toy with, like . . . like . . . "

"Like a bunch of toy prisoners!" Lance helped, raising his fists.

"Yes!" Keith exclaimed. "Thank you, Lance!"

"You do  _not_ yell at the Princess," Coran chided.

"Oh, the Princess of  _what_ _?_ " Pidge scoffed. "We're the only ones out here, and she's no  _Princess_ of ours." Lance watched as Allura flung food goo right at Pidge's face, gaping.

Keith and Pidge glared at the Princess before Keith shouted, "go loose, Pidge!" and used both their hands to fling Pidge's entire plate at Allura. Coran blocked it with a large cloth napkin, flinging goo back at all of them.

Hunk shook the goo off his head, "oh, it's on, now." He ate the goo on his plate like he was in a pie-eating contest, then he used he, Lance's, and Shiro's hands to shoot it out of his cheeks and at the Alteans. They grunted, picking up plates and ladles and throwing food goo at the Paladins again.

Lance hid behind Keith as much as he could, letting him take a face full of goo. Lance and Hunk lifted a plate and flung the goo at the Alteans, then Keith and Pidge did the same when Coran poked his head out from behind a chair. Coran flung goo that landed right in Lance's face, so they shot more out of Hunk's mouth. Everyone was laughing as they shot the goo, the cuffs and tension forgotten as they fought. Once all the ammo was gone, they all stood, taking a moment to catch their breath while Allura sat down in a chair.

Lance looked at Hunk, noticing how they were all covered in goo before he laughed, the others laughing as well. They were so ridiculous, oh lord . . . they'd wasted so much goo, but it had been really fun. Maybe--

"Enough!" Allura suddenly yelled, the laughter ceasing immediately. "Do you see what you're doing?" She lifted her head, and . . . was she  _smiling_? "You're finally working together as one!"

"Hey, she's right," Keith said, smiling at Lance. 

Lance thought for a moment before he smiled back, remembering how carefree he'd felt during the food fight. "I . . . actually don't hate you right now."

"You guys thinking what I'm thinking?" Hunk asked, smirking at Lance. 

"Let's go form Voltron!" Shiro said, raising his hand. 

"Yeah!" everyone responded.

"Actually, I was thinking dessert," Hunk admitted. "But, yeah! Let's do it!" Hunk rose his arms, only to cause Lance to fall towards him, and Keith towards him, and Pidge . . . and now they were all in a pile on the ground.

* * *

Once they were uncuffed and cleaned off, they made their way to their Lions, heading to their elevators once again. Lance felt confident as he went down the zip-line, a grin on his face as he landed in his speeder. They could do this. He  _knew_ they could do this.

Soon enough, Lance was inside of Blue, just in time to hear Shiro say, "everyone ready to do this?"

"Rodger that!" Pidge said.

Lance slid up to the controls, smiling as he confirmed, "it's on!"

"Yes, sir!" Keith replied.

"I was born ready!" Hunk shouted.

"Then let's go!" Shiro said.

"Yeah!" they all replied.

They flew out of the Castle and immediately Lance felt the connection with his team. Soon enough, they were flying together to form Voltron, fitting together seamlessly. It felt perfect, like this was what they were meant to do. Like they were meant to be this close all the time. He could do this again and again . . . as many times as it took to protect Earth.

Once they were back in the Castle, they sat down in the Lounge, and Lance couldn't help but grin, pumping his fist. "Man, that was cool! I'm so charged up, I don't know if I'm gonna be able to sleep tonight."

"Not me," Keith said, "when my head hits the pillow, I'm gonna be lights out," he smirked, then gave a soft smile. 

"I just want you to know," Hunk began, coming down from his spot on the back of the couch and sitting on the cushions between Keith and Lance, "that I realized when we were in Voltron, we're  _brothers_ , man," he pulled Lance and Keith in for a tight hug. "You know? Like, we're totally connected. No secrets, no barriers, no nothing. Brothers all the way. I love you guys."

Lance was pretty used to Hunk being this way, though it seemed Keith thought Hunk was crazy because he jokingly asked, "g-forces mess with your head a little bit?"

"Yeah, ma-maybe a little, I-I don't know," Hunk released his hold on them, scratching his head, "it's been a tough few days."

Lance and Hunk got up off the couch (Keith climbed over it like a ninja, what the heck, dude) and headed to bed. Lance noticed Shiro asking Pidge if he was going to bed, but he didn't say anything. It didn't seem like a conversation he was supposed to be a part of. Shiro ended up following them out and leaving Pidge alone with the mice, and Lance just smiled at Hunk.

"Man, what a day, huh?" Lance chuckled. "Well, I'm off to bed. Night, Hunk!"

"Goodnight, man," Hunk smiled, waving as Lance went into his room.

Lance could get used to this. Maybe the Princess was a little scary sometimes, and maybe he didn't like Keith as much as he could, and maybe training way hard and hurt like hell, but . . . to protect his family? He'd do anything. Even if that meant he had to stay in space and fight evil purple aliens . . . and not be with them.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I'll probably get one or two more chapters out before Season 6, and then we'll all be dead so no more chapters. Just kidding! But for real, I'm very scared for this next season and I'm definitely going to be crying.  
> Anyways, thanks again for reading!


	3. Return of the Gladiator

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A terrible monster threatens Arus, and it's up to team Voltron to take it down! But can they? Lance isn't so sure.

Training went by easily the next day, the team managing to form Voltron a few times during their session. (Sure, they'd fallen over, but . . . that was Hunk's fault. Totally Hunk's fault.) Lance was much less tired than he'd been yesterday (despite the training being more taxing) and it was putting him in a good mood. Once they all landed back in their hangars, they met up again to walk up to the dining hall to eat and get their energy back. Pidge had gone to who-knows-where, so it was just Lance, Hunk, Keith, and Shiro.

"Great job training today, guys," Shiro said as they entered the hall. "We're really getting the hang of Voltron."

" _Seriously,_ " Lance grinned, "how far do you think my Lion kicked that broken alien ship?" he asked, discreetly trying to see if Keith cared. (He had to make sure his rival knew how much better he was than him, duh.) Lance crossed his arms, "must have been like a mile." He stopped, Keith stopping with him as Hunk and Shiro walked off towards the table.

"Yeah, that'll come in handy when the Galra challenges Voltron to a _soccer match,_ " Keith said, unimpressed.

Lance frowned, turning to look at him. "Hey, I did something cool, and you can't handle it," he smirked. "I get it."

"Your kick ruined our balance," Keith reminded him before walking away, "we fell."

Lance frowned at that.

"Well, that falling part was Hunk's fault," Lance said, hoping Hunk wouldn't be too angry at him for that comment. (Okay, _maybe_ it was his fault, just a _little_ bit . . . but he had to look cool so Keith would take their rivalry seriously!)

"Hey!" Hunk frowned as Shiro sat down.

"Alright, save your energy for fighting Zarkon," Shiro said in his annoyed-dad tone. Lance knew better than to mess with Shiro after that, so he dropped it.

The doors opened to reveal Coran, who walked in with a tray of covered food. "Hello, guys! How was the Voltron workout?"

"We're getting there," Shiro replied. "Are you and Allura almost done fixing the Castle so we can leave this planet? I feel like we're sitting ducks here on Arus."

"Just about," Coran said. "In the meantime, to get your minds off those duck seats you're worried about, I made you guys an authentic ancient Paladin lunch!"

Lance was smiling in anticipation of food before he saw what was under the cover. It was a green pile with weird blurby-tentacles coming out of it (that was the best way Lance could describe it, and it was disgusting). Lance wondered how Coran had managed to make such an abomination of a meal, though he didn't say anything. He did, however, cover his mouth and groan.

"Coran," Hunk turned to look at the man, his (probably patented) I'm-judging-your-cooking look clearly on his face, "you  _just_ got me hooked on that goo and now you're switching it up?"

"This is packed with nutrients," Coran argued.

Hunk leaned forwards, sniffing it before he scoffed, "it smells disgusting!" (Lance had no idea how Hunk could sniff that, he was still covering his mouth and nose in disgust.)

Coran sniffed it as well, smiling as he stood, "I know! That's how you know it's healthy!"

"Coran, we're on a planet now with fresh herbs," Hunk pulled out an alien plant from some hidden pocket as he spoke, "spices, and . . . whatever this thing is," he looked at the plant, "a tuber? Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to head back to the kitchen and spice things up."

Lance didn't pay much attention to the last part of Hunk's sentence as he walked over to sit down, groaning again at the mere sight of the food.

"Where's Pidge?" Shiro asked as Lance and Keith sat down.

"He's probably checking on those prisoners we rescued from Zarkon," Coran supplied, taking a bite of the food. "They'll all be waking soon in the infirmary." Shiro stood to leave, but Coran shoved a fork of the food in his face, "open the hatch! Food Lion coming in!" Coran moved the fork closer, imitating airplane noises like an inexperienced father.

Shiro just grunted, looking pretty weirded out. "No. Just . . . " he slipped away, arms up defensively, "no."

"You don't know what you're missing!" Coran called out as he left, still holding the fork out.

Lance wished he hadn't seen that.

After just a few minutes, Hunk came back into the hall with three bowls of delicious looking food, placing them on the table before garnishing one of them. Lance was practically drooling at the sight of Hunk's cooking, holding up a knife and fork as he eagerly waited to eat. He made a noise of delight before he dug in, wolfing down the meal. At one point he and Keith picked up the same piece of food, but Lance managed to steal it away and eat it before anything got awkward. 

"They like the Paladin lunch," Lance heard Allura chuckle as she walked in.

"I don't want to talk about it," Coran replied.

Lance just kept eating -- because _dang_ this was delicious. He didn't even care that Keith was next to him stealing half of it, and he barely even noticed what Allura said about finally being able to leave this planet tomorrow.

That was until the alarms started blaring. Lance stood, slurping up the last of the noodles as he did so. Allura brought up a screen near the ceiling that showed a small alien going to hide behind a rock as he snuck up to the castle.

"What is that?!" Keith practically shouted, sounding about ready to murder whatever it was.

"I don't know what it is," Allura said. "Maybe it's a local Arusian." On the screen, the alien yelled as he ran over to another rock. "He's approaching the Castle." Again, the alien ran and yelled, flinging his sword around as if that would protect him.

"Aw!" Hunk cooed.

"Doesn't look too dangerous," Lance smirked.

"You never know," Keith said, forming his Bayard. Lance frowned at him, then turned back to Allura as she spoke.

"No," she insisted. "Alteans believe in peace first. Let's go welcome them," she said, already walking out.

"That's adorable," Hunk smiled, following her.

"Hey, maybe we can knit him a little sweater!" Lance thought aloud with a grin. He wasn't the  _best_ at knitting, but his Abuela had taught him pretty well. A sweater shouldn't be too hard.

"I'm not taking any chances," Lance heard Keith say from behind him. Ugh, why did he have to be so cautious about this adorable alien? Nothing bad was going to happen because of it! Or even  _near it_ _!_

Lance quickly caught up with Allura, Hunk, and Coran; following them out until they reached the Castle doors. They opened to reveal the scared alien, who ran to hide in a bush. Allura gestured for them to follow before they all headed towards it. She leaned down, smiling at the alien.

"Greetings," she gave a soft smile. "We know you're there. No harm will come to you."

The alien jumped out of the bush, flinging his sword before pointing it at them.

"Aw!" Hunk cooed again.

"Wait!" Keith ran in between Allura and the alien, "he could be dangerous. Drop your weapon!"

"No one takes Klaizap's weapon!" the alien pointed his sword at Keith.

"Keith, put that away," Allura commanded. (Hah, stupid Keith.) "Please, kind sir, accept my most humble apologies."

The alien's expression softened at her words, letting out a small, "huh?" before he straightened up. "I am Klaizap, bravest of our warriors. Our village is over Gazrel Hill. I come seeking answers as to why the Lion Goddess is angered with her followers."

"Followers?" Coran repeated.

"Lion Goddess?" Hunk questioned.

"The one the ancients spoke of," Klaizap explained, pointing to a rock with a carving of what must have been said Lion Goddess standing as some Arusians bowed to her.

Allura looked surprised for a moment, and then she gave a soft smile, "what makes you think she's angered?"

"Destruction is everywhere," the alien explained. "In the past few suns, fire has rained from the heavens and a giant has danced in the sky."

Hunk leaned over towards Lance, a hand in front of his mouth so nobody else could hear (it wasn't very effective). "I think he's talking about Voltron," he whispered.

"Yeah," Lance looked at Hunk, "I got that."

"You have not angered the Lion Goddess," Allura assured Klaizap.

"How can you be certain?" Klaizap asked timidly.

"Because I am Allura," the Princess answered, "and this is my Castle."

Klaizap gasped, bowing down, "Lion Goddess!"

"Please, bravest warrior," Allura began, "take us to your village so we may meet our neighbors."

"What about our mission to get off this planet and fight Zarkon?" Keith reminded her (like an idiot).

"Part of the Paladins' mission is to spread peace and diplomacy," Allura smiled. "Arus has been our host for 10,000 years. These people deserve our thanks," she finished, looking back at Klaizap.

* * *

They decided to fly the Lions over to the village, Allura and Coran riding with Hunk and Klaizap with Lance. (They siently decided Keith was still in too bad of a mood to take anyone with him.) As the arrived at the Village, the Arusians began playing festive music and cheering for them, treating them all like they were the most important people in the universe. While Lance knew it probably was a little more than they deserved, he very much liked this. If getting parades and fangirls was part of his job as a Paladin, well . . . that was just another reason to defend the universe, wasn't it?

Lance smiled wide as some of the Arusians clung to his legs, hugging him tightly. They really were adorable. He felt an urge to squeeze the heck out of some of them, though he restrained himself (as he did when there were babies, small children, or puppies in his presence). Lance, along with most of the crowd, suddenly looked up as the leader walked up to Allura, arms outstretched as he spoke.

"Oh, Lion Goddess," he began, "I, King of the Arusians," he bowed, "formerly beg your forgiveness." The King clasped his hands together, looking back up, "Please have mercy on us and accept our traditional Dance of Apology as atonement for our wrongdoings."

_Dance of Apology? Is this guy serious?_

Allura looked at Lance (she looked at  _him_!) to see if he knew what was going on, and he just shrugged, looking back at the King, who clapped to summon another Arusian. 

The Arusian panted before posing, one of her arms raised above her head while the other went across her stomach. "Commence Dance of Apology!" the King commanded. "Huraah!" he bowed, a horn blowing before the crowd cheered along to the beat of the drums. The dancer did some odd movements that somewhat resembled an interpretive dance, and all Lance could do was hope his small, forced smile was enough. It was so awkward, and he wondered if the Arusians would ever realize that they didn't need to keep apologizing, but it wasn't his place to say anything.

"Please, there's no need for this," Allura said after a moment, obviously uncomfortable.

"Moontow, halt!" the King commanded, and the dancer froze in place, a leg lifted and her arms outstretched. She looked scared to death, and Lance realized why once the King continued. "The Goddess has refused the apology. Start the sacrificial fire," an Arusian threw a torch into an enormous pyre, the crowd screaming at the sight. "We must throw ourselves in."

 _What the cheese?! These guys are insane!_ Lance thought. The Arusians had already tied up one of their own to a pole, bringing them towards the fire.

"No!" Allura called out. "No sacrifices!"

"So, we may proceed with the dance?" the King asked, looking at Allura.

"That's a better alternative," Allura agreed.

The King clapped, and the music and dancing started up again. Lance had to admit, no matter how weird this dance was, it was obvious the Arusians were trying very hard to appease them. Still, he wished they'd get the memo that they didn't  _need_ to appease them. Heck, they hadn't even known they were protecting anyone! They'd just been trying not to die . . .

Suddenly, all of the Arusians were bowing, and Allura gasped.

"Oh my," she said, her hand going up to her mouth. "Please! Please rise. Thank you for that, but I am not a great being worthy of your worship. I accidentally put you all in danger," she admitted, and some of the Arusians lifted their heads, "it is  _I_ who should be apologizing to  _you_. I am Princess Allura, and  _these_ are the Voltron paladins," she gestured to them. "Although we originally came from different worlds, and have very, very,  _very_ different traditions, we wish to live alongside you as  _friends_ ," she finished, offering the group a (really cute) soft smile.

"But the mighty robotic angel," the King said, standing up, "has it not come to destroy us because of our immoral ways?'

"Voltron?" Allura guessed, an (equally adorable) confused expression on her face. "No. In fact, that mighty robot is here to protect you." Allura turned a bit to face the entire crowd, raising her voice, "let it be known that Voltron will protect every innocent being throughout the universe!"

The Arusians cheered, coming in closer to them and hugging everyone. Lance saw that Hunk had about five or six Arusians climbing on his back before a few came up to him, one hugging his leg while the other climbed up his arm. He smiled, still a bit surprised by how touchy these guys were, but enjoying it nonetheless.

Keith, however, seemed a little more reluctant. Lance watched him with a small chuckle, enjoying seeing him so uncomfortable as an Arusian jumped up to hug him.

Keith gasped, standing up straight again after the initial surprise and saying, "I don't . . . usually hug strangers, but, uh," he moved his hand to pat the alien's head, " _man_ , you are cuddly."

"Thank you," the Arusian answered, his voice probably the deepest Lance had ever heard. Keith's face immediately turned to one of regret and what Lance could only describe as the need to immediately die on the spot.

It was funny as hell.

A few minutes later, Lance watched as Allura suddenly stopped smiling in the middle of a group of Arusians, calling out, "Shiro?" in response to what Lance assumed was a call for help through her earrings (which he'd discovered were also communication devices). 

"What's going on?" Keith asked, leaned up against a tree with his arms crossed.

Suddenly, everything was rumbling, and everyone looked up to see a Galra ship falling through the sky, fire surrounding it.

"Oh no . . . " Keith muttered. "We gotta get to our Lions!"

The Arusians began to run back into their houses, Allura yelling at them to get inside. Lance was kind of freaking out, the unexpected threat making his heart rate rise and his brain telling him that they were going to die.

Hunk tried to run away with the Aruisans, but Keith grabbed him by the collar of his armor and dragged him in the opposite direction, towards their Lions, muttering, "not _you_."

Lance could see the spacecraft land in the distance, somewhere near the remains of Sendak's ship, and he turned to Allura before she quickly told them to get to their Lions and help Pidge and Shiro. Lance nodded, running off with Keith and Hunk to get inside their Lions.

They quickly flew over to the landing site, Keith shooting at the  _giant freaking robot monster_ that was attacking Shiro and Pidge while he yelled, "lay down some covering fire so they can get out of there!" He fired his Lion's mouth cannon at the robot while Lance came up next to him in Blue.

"I'm on it!" he said, firing at the robot with his Lion's tail. They seemed to be stalling it, but he didn't know how long that would last.

"Check this out!" Hunk shouted, "Battle-Lion head-butt!" He ran his Lion into the robot, causing it to stumble forward before it fell.

"You guys okay down there?" Lance heard Keith ask.

"Still alive for now," Shiro answered before he and Pidge flew up to join the group in the sky.

"Are the Galra behind this?" Hunk asked as the robot stood back up.

"I think so," Shiro confirmed, "but I've never seen anything like it."

Lance thought that was an understatement. This robot thing was as tall as  _Voltron_ , which was like . . . a skyscraper, basically. 

"So what's the plan?" Lance asked. "Shoot at it with everything we've got?" It didn't seem like the best plan, yeah, but . . . what else were they supposed to do? "Take out its weapon? Call it names?"

"If we want to take this monster down, there's only one way to do it," Shiro said, and Lance knew what he meant before he even said, "form Voltron!" as his Lion growled.

They flew up in unison and did exactly that, and Lance found himself incredibly thankful for the lessons the other day. They'd be dead by now if it wasn't for Allura and Coran teaching them how to do this. Lance felt a new confidence as they formed the robot, his bond with his Lion and teammates making him feel stronger.

They dropped down to the ground, landing with a loud thud while sand and rocks kicked up from under them. They stood up fully, all of them looking at the robotic beast . . . and still feeling a bit intimidated, even as Voltron.

"Remember, we are one unit, fighting with one goal," Shiro reminded them.

The robot's hand (which wasn't really a hand at all) charged up and formed a purple orb of energy, throwing it at the charging Voltron, which dodged it easily. They used their thrusters to move quickly towards the beast, Keith using his Lion to punch the robot (though it caught the punch). Pidge quickly moved to punch its head, causing it to stumble back into a large sand dune. They all yelled as they jumped up, slamming into the robot. It blocked them with one arm, lifting the other one that had created the orb. Voltron turned around just in time to see the orb coming at them before it hit. They fell, the robot towering over them as the dust cleared, throwing at them once again. 

"Huh?" Lance said, raising his head as he was still dazed from the initial blow. The others let out similar reactions before they moved to narrowly avoid another hit.

"I thought Voltron was the most powerful weapon in the universe!" Keith grumbled as they raced to avoid the orb.

"Yeah, so how is this monster kicking our butts?" Hunk asked while they landed again, sliding back and watching as the orb flew past them.

Voltron turned to watch the orb, ready to dodge another attack when the robot suddenly came up and rammed into them, lifting Voltron off its feet. It threw them into the mountain range that protected the Arusian village, and Shiro quickly noticed how close they were.

"Oh, no," Shiro said after he gasped, "the village! We have to protect those people."

Shielding the village, Voltron took another hit from the orb, falling and just barely missing hitting the village due to Lance, Hunk, and Keith's efforts. 

"That was close!" Shiro exclaimed as they flew off and past the robot, hoping to lead it away from the village.

The robot followed them and Lance could hear Pidge speaking through the comms, "we got him away from the Arusians, but we can't take him down!"

"I got it!" Lance announced, determined. "I'm gonna power-kick that orb thing!"

"No!" Keith shot back as they turned to land, now facing the robot. "The last time you did a kick, we fell!"

"Stop living in the past!" Lance growled before Voltron charged.

The robot threw its orb and Lance made Voltron jump, quickly coming down to kick the orb as he yelled. Unfortunately, the kick missed.

"Oh no," Lance let out before the orb made contact with them, causing Voltron to fall.

"Pidge, fire lasers now!" Shiro commanded as they rose.

"Got it!" Pidge said. "Fire!" he said, only to end up summoning the shield instead. "Oops! Ah, uh . . . "

"No, lasers! Lasers!" Shiro repeated, obviously stressed as Pidge struggled to dismiss the shield.

The robot punched them and they fell again, all grunting as they did. Before they could even get up, the orb knocked them further. Man, this was  _not_ going well . . . They managed to stand up again as the monster took its orb back to recharge, and Lance had the feeling it was time for a mini team-meeting.

"Every time we focus on that orb, we're blindsided by the monster," Hunk yelled, "and every time we focus on the monster, the _orb_ hits us!"

"Then what do we do?" Lance asked a bit aggressively, needing an answer and needing it _now_ _._

But he didn't get an answer, because Hunk shouted, "orb!" a little too late and they were hit again, crashing into the cliff behind them as everyone yelled.

"Shiro, we gotta move," Keith said as the monster took his orb back. (Lance agreed.) Shiro didn't respond. "Shiro, are you there? Shiro!"

For a moment, Shiro still wasn't responding, and Lance was afraid all the crashing into cliffs had damaged his brain or something. But then, his voice came through the comms.

"That sound . . . " he said, voice quiet. "I recognize this monster from my time in Zarkon's prison," their leader's voice rose as the realization hit him. "I know how to beat him!"

That was great news! Unfortunately, they didn't have time to celebrate because the monster was rushing towards them, raising the orb to strike.

Lance had no idea what to do, but apparently, Shiro did. They easily dodged the attack, jumping away and landing maybe a mile away. (Which wasn't a very big distance, compared to the size of the thing they were fighting.)

"Listen," Shiro said, "there's a loud sound when the orb returns to the base of the weapon, and every third time, the orb needs to charge up. That's this monster's weakest point. That's when we strike."

"Okay, so what do we do in the meantime?" Hunk worriedly asked.

"Defense!" Shiro quickly shot back, which Lance wasn't too happy about, though he knew it was the only way. He just hoped they'd be able to survive the attacks long enough to get a shot in themselves.

The monster threw its orb, and Shiro shouted, "Pidge, we need that shield!"

The shield raised just a moment before the orb hit, protecting them for the most part. (They were still pushed back a few meters.)

"That's one," Shiro announced, "two more to go!"

The monster swung the orb back before throwing it at them again, and again it hit their shield. They slid back again, the team grunting while Lance made sure his Lion was actually keeping them up.

They were still recovering while Hunk shouted, "we can't take much more!"

Lance knew the next orb was coming when Shiro yelled, "last one! Everyone brace for impact!"

The Cuban barely had time to register the words before the shield was hit again, splitting it in two as Voltron fell to one knee.

Lance heard Shiro gasp before he yelled, "now!"

Keith quickly moved the Red Lion to shoot at the monster, a cloud of smoke and dust surrounding where it had been standing. Had they done it? Lance hoped they had . . . but the hint of a smile that had been forming quickly dropped as the smoke cleared, revealing the monster who stood up, unscathed.

_Shit._

"It didn't work!" Pidge cried.

"So now what?" Lance asked, but they were hit again before anyone could give him an answer.

Man, he was really getting tired of this guy keeping him from getting vital monster-destroying information. Also, the physical pain. That was definitely the worst part of this job.

"When I attacked him before, I had a sword!" Shiro told them, which Lance thought was pretty important information they should have been told earlier . . . but he knew Shiro's memories had been messed with, so he said nothing.

"Orb!" Hunk yelled. "Orb!!!"

It hit them, and Lance let out a groan as Pidge shouted, "we can't take another shot like that!"

"Wait a second, guys," Keith said, and Lance held his breath, hoping that his stupid rival was about to say something to help save their sorry asses. "I think my Lion's telling me what to do."

"Well whatever it is," Lance quickly said, "hurry up and do it! He's about to fire his third shot!"

The team gasped at that, watching helplessly as the monster threw the orb again. It hit before Keith could do whatever it was his Lion was telling him to, and they were knocked back again, Voltron falling onto its hands and knees. Lance looked up from his groaning to see the monster rushing towards them before it jumped over a mountain to deliver the final blow.

_Keith, Keith, Keith, come on, please, do whatever you gotta do, please--_

And just like that, Lance heard Keith yell before the Red Lion pulled out a sword from Green, quickly moving it to slice the monster before Voltron landed in what Lance was sure was a cool action pose. Behind them, the monster exploded which was . . . well, for lack of better words: pretty freaking awesome.

 _Oh, thank God for Keith._ Lance thought, which was a bit weird but . . . well, Keith had  _definitely_ saved their sorry asses.

Voltron swung the sword around a bit before they all yelled, "yeah!" The team giving various cheers and grins. (Lance let out a few  _whoop_ 's himself.)

"We did it!" Pidge yelled.

"How did you  _do_ that?!" Hunk asked, and Lance would be lying if he said he wasn't a little curious, too.

Keith didn't answer for a moment, and when he spoke again all he said was, "woah . . . " He chuckled, "thanks, Red."

Well . . . maybe he'd tell them later. Either way, that was  _awesome._

* * *

Once they assured the villagers everything was okay and Allura invited them to a party at the Castle of Lions that night, they went back to the Castle to send off the prisoners they'd saved.

Lance didn't see Pidge or Shiro anywhere, so he assumed they were still making sure their Lions were okay after the battle. The rest of them helped the prisoners load onto one of their flight pods, gathering around the entrance as the last one loaded onto it.

Lance rose a hand towards them and smiled, "good luck out there."

The prisoner bowed his head, "thank you all for everything." He stood up fully, "we never dreamed we'd see our families again. But you gave us hope. You gave the universe hope."

Lance ignored the wetness in his eyes at those words as he gave the alien a small nod, and then he walked into the pod and took off. He was glad they could help them . . . he was glad they could give people hope. But his words had gotten Lance thinking about  _his_ family . . .

No, he wasn't going to think about them. It hurt too much. Besides, they had a party to plan, and they had a lot to do before the stars came out. He didn't have time to think about his stupid problems. Not here, in space, surrounded by strangers and friends he barely knew. No, he had to be strong, and keep his focus on their mission. That was what was important here.

"Alright," Allura sighed, pulling Lance out of his thoughts. "We have a bit of work to do before the party starts. We'll need a few of you to go help Coran first find Shiro and Pidge, and then our drink trays and whatever drinks are still good. The others should prepare snacks. I'll keep in charge of tidying up a bit and making sure everything we need is working."

She gave them a smile, "and good job out there, Paladins. I hope you can enjoy tonight. You've earned it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry this one took so long. I'm excited for the next chapter because . . . LANGST. And of course, the one after that is the bonding moment soooo ;)  
> I hope you guys are enjoying this! (Though, I know it's basically just the show.) Please feel free to leave a comment if you want :)


	4. The Fall of the Castle of Lions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Turns out, the party wasn't the best idea. But hey, a coma can't be that bad . . . right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hahahaha LANGST

Setting up the party hadn't been too hard once they found Pidge and Shiro for help. Turns out they'd been slacking off and chatting or something (Lance wished he could slip away to chat, but alas . . . he was here making food with Hunk and Pidge instead) and Pidge had this look on his face, like he was trying to decide whether he should tell them something, but he never did so Lance guessed it wasn't that important.

Soon enough, it was dark, and they got the party set up just in time to see the Arusians coming towards the castle, torches being held up to light their way. Lance and Hunk were put on door duty to greet everyone, which they did a pretty good job at in Lance's opinion. Once everyone was inside, they went in to join the crowd and chat with the locals. Lance grabbed a drink off a floating tray, looking at the purple liquid curiously. Before he could try to taste it, Allura cleared her throat.

"The Arusians have . . . a show they'd like to put on for us," she said with what Lance knew was her diplomatic smile. She stepped to the side as the King took her place, the Arusians who were performing hurrying up the steps.

Lance silently prayed it wasn't another interpretive dance.

Turns out, it was a reenactment of their battle. The King was at the top of the steps narrating as two Arusians stacked on top of each other to be the monster, and five others formed their own mini-Voltron. It was actually kind of adorable, and Lance appreciated the effort they put into it.

"The monster fell from the sky!" the King shouted, "it was an epic battle, but Voltron was victorious!" He raised his arms and closed his eyes, letting the scene play out before them.

The Arusians playing the monster threw a rock at the ones playing Voltron, which fell into a pile on the ground. Lance covered his mouth, stifling a laugh. Keith, who was next to him, shot him a glare, but Lance ignored him.

The King opened one eye and frowned. "No, I said, ' _Voltron_ was victorious'!"

"Voltron" quickly reassembled and the monster fell. The crowd of Arusians let out one of their weird cheers and raised their glasses before Allura stepped forward.

"Thank you, your majesty, for that . . . _wonderful_ production," she gave an awkward smile. (She was so adorable, what the hell?) She then turned to the crowd. "It saddens me that we must leave tomorrow, but we must continue our battle with Zarkon and spread peace throughout the universe."

Allura turned to the King, "your highness," she said, producing an Altean communicator, "please accept this gift." The King took it, a bit in awe at the technology. "This will allow you to contact us anytime you need help." The King looked up at her and smiled. "Arus will be the first planet in the Voltron Alliance."

The King rose the communicator into the air as he turned to the audience, "hoorah!" The Arusians cheered again, raising their glasses, and Lance couldn't help but smile as he held his cup.

Hunk made his way over to him and Keith, moving Lance's attention to him. "We ought to get something like that."

"Like what?" Lance rose a brow.

"You know, like a cheer! Like a team cheer that we do," Hunk explained.

"Mmhm, yeah, okay," Lance said, thinking for a moment as his hand went to his chin. "How about, uh . . . " he turned to Hunk and Keith, moving his arms to his own beat, "I say 'Vol' and you say 'Tron'. Vol--!"

Lance held his pose, waiting for someone to finish.

"Uhh . . . " Keith began after a moment, "Voltron?"

It took everything in Lance not to give the heaviest sigh he could.

"No." Lance closed his eyes, brows lowering. "No, no, no, no, no," he rose his hands, "the cheer includes the instructions: I say 'Vol' and you say . . . " he gestured his cup towards Keith, who stared at him blankly.

Keith leaned his head forward a bit, "Vol-tron?"

Lance just frowned, "we'll work on it."

He turned away for a moment to sip his drink, but the moment it entered his mouth he regretted it. His entire body felt like jelly for a moment, and he spasmed for a second as he tried not to spit it out onto the floor. He turned to Coran, who was nearby. "Coran, what is this?" He covered his mouth in order to keep himself from barfing.

"Oh, this is Nunvill, the nectar of the gods," the old man explained. 

"It tastes like hot dog water and feet," Lance lamented.

"Yeah," Coran said, dipping his gloved fingers into the drink, "makes a wonderful hair tonic as well," he splashed some of the liquid onto his face, and his mustache doubled in size before Lance.

Oh god . . . oh god, he was going to puke.

Or, maybe just retch. He wasn't sure.

Lance couldn't bring himself to move after that. He felt like he was dying, honestly. That terrible taste . . . he wanted to wash it out, but he couldn't move. Not even when Keith poked him. In fact, Keith poking him actually caused him to fall over. He still couldn't move. That taste . . . that disgusting taste.

"Yo, Lance, are you . . . are you dead?" Hunk asked, and Lance finally groaned, lifting up his hand so Hunk would help him up. He did, like the amazing friend he was, and Lance leaned on him for a moment before he straightened up.

"Okay, I'm good now. That was . . . " he crinkled his nose, "disgusting."

"Yeah, I bet," Keith said, looking a bit concerned. "I mean, you fell over."

"Yeah . . . " Lance sighed, in too bad of a mood to come up with a comeback. He felt gross. This party . . . it really sucked.

Keith looked at him for a moment more before he crossed his arms and stared at the ground, and Hunk shrugged.

"We'll, uh . . . we'll leave you to recover for a moment," Hunk gave a half smile before he gestured for Keith to follow him towards the stairs.

Once they were gone, Lance just sighed.

_I hate this._

* * *

Apparently, Keith was even more of an idiot than Lance thought he was because a few minutes after he'd left with Hunk, Lance caught him drinking the Nunvill. Only, he didn't swallow it. No, after his initial shock, he spit it out all over Hunk. Hunk, having accidentally stuck two . . . candies(?) onto his eyes, turned and jokingly yelled, "ahh, my eyes!" before he and Keith laughed.

. . .

He wished he could make Keith laugh. Or laugh with him.

Wait, no, what? That was a weird thought. Lance decided to ignore it. He was probably just jealous that he wasn't a part of the fun. Because obviously, the best part of what he'd just witnessed was Keith being so dumb that he thought he could actually drink that Nunvill.

Obviously.

Lance made his way to Hunk and Keith after that, though they didn't really talk much. In fact, Keith seemed to make a point of stepping away from them to talk to an Arusian. (He was so rude. Lance hated him so much.) Lance grabbed another drink because it felt weird not having a cup in his hand, though there was no way he'd be drinking any of it. 

Lance stared into his reflection in the cup, frowning. The stupid drink had ruined his evening. But . . . well, as he told Hunk: "I guess we should get used to this space juice. Who knows when we'll get back home again."

"Yeah," Lance looked up at Hunk, "if ever."

"What do you mean?" Lance asked. He hadn't even  _considered_ that they might not be going home. That . . . that couldn't be a possibility, right?

"I mean, if this Zarkon guy has been ruling for 10,000 years, how long do you think it will take for us to fix it?" Hunk explained, grabbing a bowl of food off a floating tray. "You know, if we live."

Lance looked down, dejected. "Right, that."

"Hey, what do you think the chances are of us landing on a nacho planet?" Hunk asked, oblivious to the pain forming in Lance's chest.

"Well, there's only one planet with Veradera Beach," Lance began, images of home replacing the ones of him possibly dying out here, "pizza shack looking over the water, and the garlic knots and . . . " a pang in his chest, "my mom's hugs . . . " The Cuban sniffled, holding back tears as the misery he'd been trying to avoid quickly overtook him. "I'm sorry," he managed to say as he lowered his head so nobody could see him cry, "I think this Nunvill is getting to me," he let out a heavy breath as he walked away, "I gotta go."

He kept his head down as the tears rolled down his cheeks, walking up the stairs to try and find somewhere he could be alone. His thoughts drifted to the worst places, and suddenly he was hit with the one he'd been trying to avoid the most:

He could die out here.

Sure, in the heat of battle he knew it. He was scared. Always scared. But the adrenaline usually kept those thoughts at bay, letting him focus on the fighting instead. And after the fighting, he tried not to think about it. He tried not to think about how his family didn't know he was out here. He tried not to think about how the last thing he'd texted his sister, Veronica, was a mean joke to win a petty argument. He tried not to think about how he could die without ever seeing his abuela again . . .

He found himself on the Bridge.

The tears had dried up somehow, but he was far from okay. He didn't even know where Earth was. He looked outside, up into the starry night sky, and he couldn't see it. He couldn't even see any of the constellations he'd learned about at the Garrison. For the first time, he realized just how . . . alone he was. The universe was so huge . . . how was he ever supposed to get home? How were they supposed to save all of it? How did anything even matter when the universe was so big?

_Great job, Lance. Now you're having an existential crisis._

Lance let out a noise that was somewhere in between a groan and a sigh before he rested his head on his hand, frowning. How long would it take him to go back home? Could he take a day trip or something? He just . . . he wanted to see his family again. To at least tell them, 'hey, I'm not missing or anything, I'm actually defending the entire universe for you! Isn't that cool? By the way, I love you more than anything.'

But . . . that couldn't happen. Lance knew it couldn't. There were too many things they had to do. What if something attacked them and Lance wasn't there to help? As much as he missed his family, he couldn't let down his team like that, and he couldn't let innocent people get hurt if he had a chance to stop it.

Still, he missed them. He wished he could see them, or just see Earth . . . even for just a moment. He'd give anything to go home.

"Mind if I join you?" Coran's voice broke through Lance's thoughts. Somehow, the old man's presence wasn't that bad. It was kinda nice someone was checking up on him, though . . . Coran couldn't do anything to help.

Lance looked up as Coran jumped down from the podium, "how far away from Earth do you think we are, Coran?"

Without any questions, Coran stepped forward, "let's take a look." He walked up to the console and pressed it, the holographic map of the entire known universe expanding to fill the room.

"Earth is over here," he said, pointing to the planet. "And we're aaaaaaaalllllllllllllllll . . . the waaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy . . . oveeeeeeeerrrrrr--"

It had been more than a few seconds, and Coran still hadn't gotten to Arus. God, was it really that far?

"You ever notice how far the planets are from each other, Coran?"

"Yes," Coran answered, still scrolling through the universe, "haven't you been paying attention?"

Lance stood up and walked over to where Coran was, "yeah, but I mean, like . . . they're really,  _really_ far away." He stared at the map, unable to see anything he could recognize. The Galaxy before him resembled the Milky Way, as if it was there to taunt him. "Like, say, Earth? It's so far . . . I-I can't even see it. The-the blue oceans, the white clouds, green grass . . . I-c--I-I-I can't see any of it."

"You miss Earth. I understand," Coran said, placing a hand on Lance's back. "I miss Altea."

"I know we're supposed to be brave Paladins," Lance clenched his fists and looked up at the ceiling as if to emphasize his point, "and Defenders of the Universe or . . . whatever, but--" he looked back to Coran, fists falling, "honestly? I just want to go home." He closed his eyes and frowned, trying not to think about the details again. It was too painful.

"If I could go home, I would," Coran said.

"I miss rain," Lance said, almost giving a sad laugh, "and splashing in puddles."

"Rain?" Coran questioned.

"Yeah, i-it's water that falls from the sky," Lance explained, the fact that he had to do so a bit funny to him. Almost took his mind off the homesickness.

"Oh, we had that on Altea," Coran excitedly recalled. "Only, it wasn't water. More like rocks! Razor sharp and boiling-hot. Oh, they could knock a hole right in your head."

Lance thought that sounded insanely scary (and it made him appreciate rain a whole lot more) but Coran seemed so excited he couldn't ruin it. "Sounds fun," he said, albeit a bit sarcastically.

"Yeah . . . "

* * *

They looked at the stars for a while. Well, not the real stars. The holographic ones. Coran told him the names of constellations in the area and stories about the cultures that created them, and soon enough Lance was feeling okay again. Lance had thought Coran was pretty weird when he'd first met him -- and yeah, maybe he was -- but . . . if you actually took the time to listen to him, he was actually pretty interesting. He had a lot of stories, that was for sure.

Soon enough, Coran mentioned going back to the party ("to see if Keith has tried to grow his hair longer with the Nunvill!" Coran had said) and Lance agreed with a small smile. 

They were just walking out the door when Rover (Pidge's cool little reprogrammed Galra droid) floated by.

"Hey, Rover," Lance greeted it, though it was just beeping a lot as it passed him. It didn't really seem to notice him at all, actually. Which was weird, because he thought Rover was pretty friendly, for a robot. And it usually wasn't alone, it was with . . . "Wait." Lance stopped, looking back at the droid that had risen up by the crystal, beeping rapidly now. "Where's Pidge?"

It was when the usually-green lights on the droid turned red that Lance realized: it was a bomb.

Lance gasped, the flashing red light that would signal the detonation already going off as he spun around, "Coran, look out!"

He jumped onto the man, shielding him from the explosion . . . and everything went black.

* * *

He didn't regret it. Not even when he heard the voices coming into the room, and he realized how much everything  _hurt,_ and how he couldn't move or respond, and their voices sounded miles away. Not even when everything felt so cold, yet so hot and so . . . so much pain.

He heard someone saying his name. But he couldn't open his eyes. He was being lifted, and they were still saying his name. All he could do was groan and hope his ribs weren't cracked as badly as they felt. 

He heard his name again . . . a different voice this time. Something about the infirmary. Lance liked that idea. Anything that could stop this pain. He hoped Coran wasn't too bruised up . . .

Wait, no. Too loud. Everyone was yelling. Or maybe just one person . . . probably Keith. Keith yelled a lot. Lance groaned, partly because of the pain and partly because he was getting a headache. The yelling stopped, but . . . the pain didn't.

He let out a breath (or maybe another groan) before he drifted off again, the pain too much . . . he remembered something about staying awake being important if you were hurt, but . . . he didn't want to stay awake. He just wanted to rest.

After all, rest was so much better than pain.

* * *

He woke up again for a moment when he was moved again. He was being slung over someone's shoulder . . . he thought it might be Shiro. He was the only one strong enough to lift him, anyways. Kind of like his dad, Lance thought . . . but his dad had never lifted him over his shoulder like this. His dad hadn't been around for a while.

Once he was over Shiro's shoulder, he fell back into his state of unconsciousness, though now and then he thought he could hear a voice telling him he'd be okay. That help was on the way. He hoped it was true . . . everything still hurt, and he didn't really like this mode of transportation. (Not that he was conscious enough to really care, though.)

Lance groaned again as he was set down, the motion being done quickly but with care. It still hurt like hell. Everything hurt. His head, his ribs, his chest, his legs . . . 

He just wanted to go home. He just wanted to sleep.

 _Sleep_. . _._

* * *

Sleep didn't last long. Barely even a few seconds. Or at least, that's what it felt like to Lance. Lots of loud noises. Rubble falling. Someone lifted him -- not Shiro, this wasn't gentle at all -- before they dropped him. His chin hit the cold, hard ground and he grunted. He still couldn't move. His ribs were definitely broken now. Damn, did it hurt.

More loud noises. Then a disturbing quietness. Somone was speaking . . . something about Voltron . . . whatever it was, it wasn't good. Were they under attack? Maybe. Maybe that was it.

Was the team okay? Did they need help? Were they as hurt as Lance was? He didn't think so . . . or maybe he just hoped they weren't. He wouldn't wish this pain on anybody.

 _God,_ it hurt.

This was much worse than homesickness. Much worse than Nunvill. Much, much worse than seeing Keith having fun and laughing without him . . .

Keith was cool. Lance bet Keith didn't hurt. His skin was probably impossible to cut or bruise. That'd be something he'd do, have cool unbreakable skin. What a jerk.

Lance bet Keith didn't see black right now. He bet it wasn't consuming him until he was unconscious, lying on the floor in pain. He bet he wasn't dying.

Dying . . .

Did Heaven hurt? Lance hoped not. He'd much rather _not_ suffer for eternity. No, Heaven couldn't hurt. Heaven must feel great. No pain at all.

But . . . that meant he must not have been dead yet since everything still hurt so much. Lance didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. He just didn't like this pain. But he was drifting off now, anyway. The pain was getting to be too much to bear. Soon enough, he'd be asleep again . . . maybe he could just sleep forever.

Yes, that sounded like a great idea. Sleep forever.

.

.

.

He'd do that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapters aren't very long when your POV character is unconscious for half of it . . . oops.


	5. Tears of the Balmera

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Turns out you miss a lot of the action when you're in a coma . . .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all guess what it's THE BONDING MOMENT--

_" . . . found and terminated!"_

 

_" . . . location . . . kill . . . "_

 

_" . . . Zarkon . . . rise before . . . end . . . "_

 

_" . . . lives of . . . can't give up . . . "_

 

_" . . . mice! Maybe they . . . "_

 

_" . . . energy transducer . . . "_

 

_" . . . you're next!"_

 

_"Pidge, don't listen to-- GAH!"_

* * *

Lance didn't have any dreams.

It was weird, being asleep without dreams. Or maybe he wasn't asleep . . . maybe this was something else. He could still hear people talking every now and then, and he had a great sense of urgency but he couldn't quite remember why.

Oh yeah, and there was also still the pain. The terrible, unbearable, how-was-he-still-alive-god-please-help pain. It might have been the only thing besides the voices that kept him from drifting off fully. Or . . . maybe it was the opposite. He didn't really know.

Still . . . no dreams. Just thoughts.

He thought a lot about his family. He thought he heard them sometimes, but some part of him said that was crazy. (Maybe it was, because he swore he heard his dad, too.)

Besides that, he thought about his teammates. He heard them, too. That didn't seem as crazy, so he thought it was probably real. He wondered how they were going to form Voltron without him . . . maybe they couldn't. Maybe they weren't even fighting in the Lions. Whatever the case, Lance was confident they'd be okay . . . they worked well together, and they were all good at something important. They could go on without him. After all, Shiro was a good leader. And Hunk was good at fixing things, and he was getting a lot better at fighting, too. Not to mention Pidge could hack stuff, which was pretty awesome in Lance's opinion. And Keith was really good at using his sword. And coming up with comebacks and being funny sometimes, but Lance wasn't supposed to think about that . . . he couldn't really remember why, though.

Oh well . . . maybe he'd remember if he let himself drift off again . . . reset his brain or whatever.

* * *

When Lance woke up again, he was pretty sure Pidge was yelling at him.

Wait . . . no. Pidge was saying something. 

_"Wake up!"_

Wake up? Oh, right . . . he'd been asleep.

But why should he wake up? Sleep was so nice . . .

" . . . would work with _me?"_

Wait. That voice . . . that wasn't anyone on his team. In fact, that sounded an awful lot like the dude they'd blown up a few days ago. Was he . . . a zombie or something?

Lance's eyes opened to see a blur of purple holding up what he thought must have been Pidge.

That definitely wasn't good . . . his team was in danger. There was no way he was going to let some purple-cat-zombie-alien hurt his teammates.

Lance grabbed his Bayard without hesitation, forming his rifle and shooting at the huge alien in front of him.

The shot hit despite his condition, causing the alien to let out a yell as he dropped Pidge.

Lance barely had time to smirk at his victory because it had, unfortunately, taken most of his energy to do that. He groaned as he fell over again, unable to hold his Bayard any longer even as it went back to its normal state.

He felt like he was going to die.

Well, if he did . . . at least he'd helped his team, right?

Though he couldn't really move, and the pain was still so intense Lance thought he might explode, he was more awake now. He could hear the fighting clearly, but he could only open his eyes for a second or so at a time to catch a glimpse of what was happening.

The one thing he definitely caught was Keith kicking the bad guy into a trap, which he tried to acknowledge with a whoop or a holler until he remembered how much that would hurt to do.

Once the fight was over, Lance saw Keith coming up to him. Wait . . . him? Why _him?_ Lance was too tired to think about it, but he'd been pretty sure Keith hated him. (He was sure Keith hated everyone, but that wasn't the point.)

"Lance," Keith said softly, offering his hand out. With a small groan, Lance took it. "Are you okay?" he asked as he bent down to Lance's level.

Lance lifted himself up a bit, not wanting to look as weak as he felt. He was sitting up now, still holding Keith's hand. Did Keith notice? Probably not. If he did, Lance was sure he'd let go.

"We did it," he managed to say, looking over at Keith. He looked . . . really caring . . . and sweet . . . and kind. Kinder than Lance had ever seen him.

_El es hermoso . . ._

"We are a good team." Lance smiled softly, a small voice in the back of his mind wondering if this was a dream. That would be the only explanation for why Keith was smiling back just as softly, after all. The only explanation for why they were still holding hands . . . or maybe that part was because it was the only thing keeping him from falling over.

Either way, he liked this. It made him feel all warm inside . . . and it made his chest hurt less. Yeah, he was still in a lot of pain, but the warmness was beginning to overtake all that. It was worth it, anyway. It was a good feeling. Like when he went in the simulator for the first time . . . only way better. (Hey, Keith had been there, too! What a coincidence . . . he'd laugh if he could muster the strength.)

If he could stay in this moment forever, he just might.

* * *

Keith carried him back to the infirmary.

He'd lifted Lance _way_  too easily, but the Cuban was too tired to say anything about it. Besides, if this really was a dream, it wouldn't do him much good to ruin it, right? He wanted things to stay like this for a while. Keith had never been this way with him before . . . never this nice to him. Never this sweet.

Lance might have nuzzled his head into Keith's chest while he was being carried. If he did, it was because he was tired, and in pain, and he really just wanted to sleep . . . and maybe because Keith helped him to feel a little safer. Keith didn't seem to react much, so he figured it was fine. Besides, he was already cradling Lance in his arms. He shouldn't mind a little nuzzle.

Somone had taken his armor off, pressed a wet cloth to some of his wounds to clean them of any blood or dirt, and helped him into a white suit. He didn't know who had done it, but when he opened his eyes again he saw Keith carefully set him inside the pod. He saw his teammates (besides Hunk and Coran . . . where were they?) giving him worried smiles, and Keith told him, "we'll see you soon, Lance."

"Rest," Allura added. He was happy she cared. He was happy any of them did.

The Paladin's eyes fluttered closed before the barrier rose, sealing him in to rest. It wasn't long before the pain began to fade away, along with his consciousness . . . 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> El es hermoso = he's beautiful
> 
> Okay, I know a lot of this is like . . . really choppy and unfiltered, but I'd like to point out that Lance is in a COMA this entire chapter, so he's not really in the same state of mind. :T


	6. Taking Flight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sooooo . . . apparently, pretty alien girls aren't always good people.  
> .  
> .  
> .  
> Good to know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAHAHAHA SEASON 7 WRECKED MY ASS IT WAS A TRIP AND I HATE THIS FANDOM AND NOW SEASON 8 IS GONNA COME OUT IN A FREAKIN MONTH BUT YOU KNOW WHAT HERE WE ARE--  
> Once this rewrite reaches the end of season 6, things will start to go off-course and this will become more of a fix-it fic. So . . . yeah. Klance will be canon in this, and Adam will be some awesome immortal being. The end :)

The hiss from a cool rush of air tickling his skin was what brought Lance back into consciousness, his mind stirring just in time to feel himself lurching forward. He stumbled to the side and barely opened his eyes before falling the other way. What he barely recognized as the team could be blurrily seen huddled up a few meters in front of him, their chatter incoherent. The Blue Paladin’s limbs felt like lead, his eyes barely open (though, his vision was still pretty blurry, so it didn’t matter that much whether they were open or shut). His head was spinning and his legs were definitely about to give out, but he somehow managed to take the last few steps to reach the group, taking note of the two timers ticking away as his vision began to clear.   
  
"You guys having a clock party?" he asked tiredly, raising a brow.   
  
The group parted a bit, all eyes on him as their mouths opened in what might have been relief. Or shock. He still wasn't totally aware of what was going on. Where was he, again? Space?   
  
"Aw, Lance, you just ruined it," Hunk frowned, looking up to him.   
  
Had he? Now Lance felt kind of bad . . . but something told him he hadn't ruined anything. That something, he guessed, had to do with the ache and fatigue he was currently feeling. He at least knew he was in the castle . . . if he was remembering correctly now, it seemed to be the room Allura and Coran had come out of. Had he been asleep for 10,000 years like they had?   
  
Wait, no . . . that couldn't be right. His friends would all be dead if it had been that long.   
  
And that was when Lance remembered:  _ he'd _ almost died.   
  
"Y-uh--" realization dawned on Hunk's face before he quickly brought Lance into a tight hug, "hey, Lance!"   
  
Lance grunted at the hug, his body feeling sorer as he was set down, Hunk supporting him so he wouldn't fall over. "What happened?" he asked, lifting his head. Having become aware he’d almost died, he was aching to learn the details that still seemed blurry in his mind. If he could learn from the experience and possibly  _ not _ almost die next time, he'd be very grateful, thank you.   
  
"We can tell you all about it while you get something to eat," Allura told him with that beautiful soft smile of hers, placing a hand on his shoulder as he looked over at her. "Are you able to walk?" (Oh, Allura. Always so kind.)   
  
Still a bit delirious and confused by the situation, Lance decided it was best to crack a joke. That usually worked when he didn’t know what was going on. "Talking? Eating?" he smirked, "are you asking me out on a date?"   
  
Allura didn’t dignify him with any more of a response than a groan as she crossed her arms and looked away.

  
Oh well, so it didn't work. Must have been the fact that he was currently unable to stand on his own and still unaware of why . . . though, he wasn't really expecting her to respond to his flirting. It wasn't like anyone ever did.   
  
"Yep, he's okay," Shiro smirked. Usually, a comment like that from Shiro would have hurt, but Lance was still pretty worried about the almost dying thing, sooo . . .   
  
"Yep," Pidge frowned, "there he is."   
  
"Classic," Keith looked to the ground, arms crossed.   
  
"What guys, it was a joke!" Lance shrugged, which took more strength than he'd thought it would. The fact that he'd walked (okay, stumbled) over to them was a miracle. Hunk lifted him up a bit more as he made an attempt to straighten himself, "anyway, food sounds great. I feel like I got hit by a car . . . but like, without the internal bleeding and scrapes."   
  
"Well . . . that's not far from the truth," Coran shrugged, which only caused Lance to raise a brow.   
  
What had happened, again? He knew he'd gotten hurt, but the memories were . . . fuzzy at best. There was some glimpse of Keith smiling at him, something about an evil purple blob holding Pidge, and he at least knew he'd been knocked out for most of the action, but . . .   
  
_ Oh _ . He'd jumped in front of a bomb. Right.   
  
Huh, how had that slipped his mind so easily?   
  
"Come on, buddy," Hunk nudged him, "let's get you changed and then we can go to the dining hall."   
  
Lance just nodded, only showing a bit of his embarrassment about Hunk having to escort him so he wouldn’t fall over. He’d never wanted to look so weak in front of his team, but this wasn’t something he could just hide with witty banter and puns.   


* * *

Hunk, like the amazing best friend he was, led him to his room while the rest of the team went to prepare the food. He spoke absentmindedly about his experience during the battle but told Lance the team would explain better later. That was fine by Lance, anyway. He still wasn't in quite the right state of mind to take in the story, even if he was eager to hear exactly what  _ not _ to do next time there was an invasion. Hunk opened the door, still holding onto Lance, and gave him a look that Lance knew was asking if he should come in.   
  
"I'll just change really quick," Lance told him. Hunk nodded, wordlessly telling him that he was there if Lance needed him. Lance gave him a small smile and a nod in return, and he knew Hunk understood that he would manage. Breaking from his hold, Lance did his best not to stumble as he entered his room.   
  
Once the door was shut, he let out a long sigh, hands on his shaky knees as the memories flooded back into his mind.   
  
He'd jumped in front of a bomb and saved Coran's life.   
  
He'd almost died.

That single truth seemed to snap his mind into place, its hold still on him so he could only consider it, and nothing else. It was weird to think about, how he had been so close to no longer existing. But he  _ knew _ thinking about it would only lead to more depressing things, so he shook his head, determined to focus on getting dressed instead. 

  
Someone had folded his clothes neatly on his dresser and left his jacket hanging near the door, so he luckily didn't have to go through much trouble to find them. He sat down on his bed and unzipped the white bodysuit he was currently in, tossing it aside before he began to pull up his pants. He had to stand to do it fully so he almost fell over, but he made a smooth recovery that gave him hope to his condition getting better soon. He just hoped Hunk hadn’t heard his stumbling, or he’d never escape from his friend’s caring nature.   
  
The sight of a large burn scar taking up most of his back in the mirror stopped Lance from pulling his shirt on, his arms locking in place as if mechanical. His face paled and he gaped, turning his back as far as he could while he was still able to see the mirror. The sight of the scar was something he could not seem to look away from, no matter how hard he tried to. The image was seared into his mind even when he finally did avert his gaze, leaving a painful feeling in his chest. 

  
He'd always prided himself in having smooth, perfect skin (the light freckles he had sprinkled over his body didn't count as imperfections, in his opinion), but now a large portion of his back was . . . well, he thought it was  _ ugly _ , to be completely honest. It wasn't subtle enough to be cool like Shiro's scar, and he was sure nobody could see anything heroic when they looked at it. They'd just see gross, burned skin when they looked at him now. They'd see someone unworthy of loving, unworthy of a chance.   
  
He shook his head to stop himself from crying at that thought.   
  
No matter how much he hated it, he had to be okay with it. He couldn't get rid of it, no matter how much he wanted to. It was there now. He . . . he just had to deal with it. Like all brave heroes had to.   
  
Besides, even though it was ugly, it reminded him of the deed he'd done, and it reminded him that he'd do it again in a heartbeat if it protected his team. He chided himself for being so selfish as to be upset about his skin when they were in the middle of an intergalactic war. His father would have been disappointed.   
  
.   
  
.   
  
.   
  
. . . he supposed he should put his shirt on. Hunk must be getting tired of waiting. Nobody would know about the scar besides him, anyway. He . . . he had nothing to worry about.

  
"You good, buddy?" Hunk asked earnestly when Lance came out, the door closing with a  _ swish _ behind him.   
  
"Yeah," Lance mustered a smile for his friend, "Yeah, I'm good."   
  
Hunk looked at him for a moment more, expression unreadable, before he teared up a bit and pulled Lance into another bone-crushing hug.   
  
"I'm glad," Hunk said, and Lance hummed in agreement, letting himself melt into the hug for the moment.   
  
Hunk had always been good at reminding him that he was cared for. That was just one of the many reasons Lance prided himself in being his best friend. He was glad to see that, even after being thrown into a space war and being chosen to defend the universe, he was still the same good and caring Hunk that Lance had always known.   


* * *

The Samoan, after releasing Lance from his hug just before it was long enough to become awkward, led him to the dining room, helping him sit down despite the fact that he was now able to stand on his own. By the next hour, Lance figured he'd be back to his normal strength. Or, at least, he hoped he would. Shiro leaned on his chair while Hunk moved and stood to the side, Pidge leaning on the table with the mice. Keith went to sit on the table like he owned the place, which made Lance roll his eyes before Allura and Coran came in with a bowl of that good ol' green goo.

  
Coran began to explain to him what had happened, the team joining in a few times to correct him when he embellished something or missed a part he hadn't been there to see. Eventually, everyone was interjecting so much that they all began to tell it, their different perspectives a bit confusing at times but very interesting to hear. Turns out the thing he’d mistaken as Rover was a Galra drone sent by Sendak and a few other Galra who'd survived the explosion of their ship. Hunk and Coran had left to some weird living planet called a Balmera to get a new crystal to power the Castle, while Allura and Keith were tricked into leaving to help out the village and got locked out of the castle. Shiro had been taking care of him until Sendak came, but he'd lost the fight, leaving Pidge -- and surprisingly, the Space Mice -- to save them all.   
  
Besides that, he'd been in a coma most of the time -- not just knocked out as he'd thought, but in a  _ coma _ \-- only to emerge from it to _ shook Sendak's arm off _ . Which, uh, was pretty badass if he did say so himself. He had thought he'd remembered that faintly, so it was nice to know that the memory was true. He was glad to know he hadn't been deadweight the entire time.   
  
Lance lifted his spoon to take a bite of the almost forgotten goo as the mice squeaked, listening as Allura finished up her part of how the end of the battle with Sendak had gone.   
  
"He'd be Sendak's prisoner right now, if not for Pidge," Allura noted as she finished her account.   
  
Lance let one of the mice eat a bit of the goo with a small smile as Pidge spoke up, "well, you wouldn't have survived the explosion if Hunk and Coran hadn't gotten a new crystal."   
  
"Wow," Lance said, amazed at how well the team had managed to defeat the Galran infiltrators (and save his life!), "thanks, everybody." He looked over towards Keith, smirking. Maybe it was the way he was sitting on the table, or how he’d been pretty quiet the entire time, but Lance couldn't help but tease him a bit. "Sounds like the mice did more than you, though."   
  
"I punched Sendak!" Keith argued, brows lowering.   
  
(If Lance remembered correctly, he'd  _ kicked _ Sendak, but . . . well, his memory wasn't very good concerning that battle. Hell, he was very sure he'd been hallucinating at some points near the end . . . after all, there was no way he'd let  _ Keith _ of all people carry him.)   
  
"Yeah," Lance retorted, a hand on his chin as if in thought, "apparently after I emerged from a coma and shot his arm off."   
  
"We had a bonding moment," Keith's voice sounded scratchy and it cracked, his expression one of betrayal. "I cradled you in my arms!" He lifted his arms as if demonstrating.   
  
Oh no. Oh  _ no no no no _ .    
  
There was no way that actually happened! No way Keith had carried him back to that pod. No way they'd held hands and looked at each other like . . . like . . .    
  
_ No _ . No way. No way Lance had said they were a good team. No way he'd thought . . .   
  
_ El es hermoso. _   
  
Lance crossed his arms. "Nope," he said quickly, not allowing Keith to protest as he continued, "don't remember, didn't happen . . . "   
  
Quick, he needed to change the subject. Before Keith could say anything else . . . before he could  _ remember _ anything else.   
  
"So," he began, pointedly looking at Allura and  _ not _ Keith’s heartbroken expression, "what happened to Sendak?"   
  
"He's frozen in a cryo-pod," Allura explained, face more serious at the mention of the Galra. "We're keeping him here in the Castle."   
  
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Lance asked, raising a brow as one of the mice jumped into his bowl to eat what was left. Keeping Sendak -- the guy that had beaten Shiro, almost killed him, and almost taken over the Castle of Lions -- inside the Castle where he could possibly come back to hurt them seemed pretty risky.   
  
"He's too dangerous to be set free," Allura said decisively. "Besides, we might be able to get some information about Zarkon from him."   
  
"Sooo . . . what's the plan now?" Lance asked.   
  
"We have to get back to the Balmera and save Shay and her people," Hunk declared, the attention immediately turning to him.   
  
Lance rose a brow, impressed by Hunk's dedication to this Shay girl. She must have really been something. "Wow, you are  _ really _ hung up on this lady."   
  
"No, it's not like that," Hunk quickly corrected. "Look, guys, when you see how Zarkon has treated these people and destroyed their home . . . “ his expression turned sorrowful, yet angrier than Lance had seen before. “They've been under his thumb for so long, they don't even know what it is to be  _ free _ . It's up to us to set this right.  _ This _ is what being a Paladin of Voltron is all about. It's time to man up."   
  
Hunk was right. Lance felt like shit for assuming it was because of a _ girl  _ that Hunk had wanted to go back . . . he should have known it was about more than that. Hunk had a big heart, and if he saw people in need . . . he was going to want to help them. He wasn't shallow like Lance often was. Lance guessed that now that they actually could help out, Hunk was going to be a lot more involved. It was admirable, really. One of the things Lance had always commended about his friend.   
  
"Then let's get moving," Shiro directed, already walking off towards the door, "time to go defend the universe."   
  
Keith was already next to Shiro as the others began to follow (he was always ready to fight, huh?) Lance got up, stopping when he heard Pidge speak up: "Wait, I have something to say first."   
  
'Wait'? What did he need to tell them? Had something happened? Were they in danger?   
  
"I need to come clean, and . . . I'm afraid this may change the way you all think about me," Pidge admitted, looking down.   
  
What did he mean by that? Did he kill someone or something? (Well, Lance supposed they'd all killed people . . . oh, shit, no, he did  _ not _ want to think about that right now. These were too many thoughts of death for one morning, for one thing, and besides that, causing casualties in an intergalactic war was definitely not something he'd put on his bucket list, thank you.)   
  
"Just so there are no secrets between us anymore . . . " he tensed a bit before he finally continued, "I can't 'man up' . . . " Pidge looked back up to face them before revealing the insane truth: "I'm a girl."   
  
Lance's jaw dropped in shock.   
  
His first thought was that he must have heard him--her?-- incorrectly. Pidge was . . . a girl?! But girls were so . . . so . . . not Pidge-like. Yeah, maybe Lance had found it a bit weird when Pidge had shaved his-- no, her, come on, Lance-- legs at the Garrison, but he'd thought maybe he was just raised weird or something! And yeah, Pidge had always worn towels in a girly way so they covered her chest, and she'd always had to cut her hair more often, and sometimes her voice would get higher than Lance thought it was supposed to, and maybe she’d had more cramps than Lance thought was healthy, but . . . Pidge?! A girl?!   
  
"I-I mean, I can 'man up' because that's just a figure of speech," Pidge adjusted her glasses, "I don't actually have to be a man to 'man up'. I just have to be tough. But what I'm saying--"   
  
"Huh--ehg-- _ What?!" _ Lance yelled, finally breaking out of his shock and startling Pidge in the process. "You're a girl?!  _ HOW?!" _   
  
Lance was pretty sure his entire world had just been shattered. How was  _ Pidge _ a  _ girl? _ And why was she pretending to be a guy? WAS PIDGE LIKE, MULAN OR SOMETHING?!   
  
"I've known for quite some time," Allura admitted, "but I'm glad you've shared it with everyone."   
  
_ What?! _ _   
_   
"Yeah, I figured," Hunk smiled.   
  
Him, too?! What, was Lance stupid or something?!   
  
"Oh yeah, me too," Keith said quickly. (Oh no, Lance didn't believe that for a second. The others knowing before him, he could understand. But Keith? Saying it that quickly like if he didn't he'd look dumb? Oh, there was no way he'd known.)   
  
"Wait," Coran leaned forward and laughed, "we--we were supposed to think you were a boy?" (Of course, the  _ alien _ guy would know.)   
  
"Pidge, owning who you are is going to make you a better Paladin," Shiro said calmly. (Oh, and of  _ course _ , the openly gay role model would give that advice. It was like everyone had been perfectly equipped to take this news  _ except for Lance _ .)   
  
Pidge sighed in relief, "it's good to get that off my chest." Lance was still a bit shocked, but hey, who cared about that, right? He's apparently just really dumb and dense . . . "Now let's launch this Castleship!"   
  
Lance shook his head in disbelief, heading spinning even more now. "Wait, what? Pidge is a girl and the Castle is a ship? " He brought a hand up to his head, wondering if he'd hit it while getting dressed or something. "How long have I been out?"    
  
Was he really just  _ that dense _ ?   
  
The team just chuckled, not answering him as he followed them out and towards the Bridge.    
  
Figures.   


* * *

After arriving at the Bridge, Allura stepped onto the podium as the controls rose for her, holographic buttons appearing to allower her to pilot the Castleship. Chairs rose from the ground, each one having colored lights for their designated Paladin. Lance sat down in the blue-lit chair as Allura got the controls ready, finding it comfortable despite the lack of any cushioning.   
  
"Activate interlock," the princess commanded.   
  
"Dynotherms connected," Coran announced.   
  
A low hum began to radiate throughout the Castleship, various sounds of machinery filling the air.   
  
"Mega-thrusters are go," Allura reported.   
  
Looking up from the controls, Coran proclaimed, "we are ready to depart Planet Arus on your mark, Princess."   
  
The dark screens on the windows disappeared, revealing the stunning cloudy blue sky outside. Lance’s face lit up at the sight, his confusion over Pidge and worry of his near-death experience forgotten for the moment.   
  
"Firing main engines for launch," Allura said. Everything was shaking for a moment. A loud rumble erupted as the Castle's towers disconnected from the land. The Castleship began to rise, towers coming in towards the main building as the thrusters flew them up and out of the atmosphere.   
  
Man, this was  _ so cool _ . Lance had been in simulators. He'd been in the Blue Lion. He'd been in Voltron . . . but taking off in a giant ship that was a hundred times bigger than Voltron could ever dream to be? Going into space and watching as they flew past the massive blue and green orb? Doing it all without running away from evil aliens that wanted to kill them? It was straight-up magical.   
  
"Woah . . . " Lance whispered under his breath, getting up from his chair to admire the view from the window, his fingers spread out on the cool glass. His face lit up light a toddler during Chirstmas at the sight of the stars racing by them, every thought in his mind silencing because of what he could see out there.   
  
This.  _ This _ was why he'd wanted to be an astroexplorer. Because this view . . . this was everything.   


* * *

Though the Cuban doubted he could ever get tired of looking out at the stars, he eventually made his way back to his seat just in case they were attacked or something. The castleship was strangely quiet for a while, everyone either taking some time to rest after the Sendak ordeal or too in awe at the marvels of the ship to keep up a conversation, so it gave Lance some time to think.

It was . . . a bit weird adjusting to the fact that Pidge was a girl.   
  
Every time Lance looked at her, he had to repeat in his head that she was a  _ girl  _ and that she probably wanted to be referred to as such. Unless . . . she didn't? Lance wasn't quite sure. He'd have to ask her later, just in case.   
  
When Lance thought about it, it actually did make sense. She'd always had some mannerisms that girls tended to have and she'd never once joined in on he and Hunk's sleepovers, though they'd invited her many times in an effort to bond. She must have been hiding her identity for so long . . . Lance had no idea why she had, but he guessed it had something to do with her family being on the Kerberos mission. Maybe she’d snuck into the Garrison to gather intel?   
  
Still, Lance felt like a jerk for being so surprised -- not because he was surprised that she wasn't who he'd thought she was, but because he'd had such a hard time processing that  _ Pidge _ was a  _ girl _ . (Really, he felt terrible for not being able to process it right away. He felt like he was betraying her by being confused.) Still, the more Lance thought about it . . . he could definitely see it. Pidge was more of a tomboy than anything, though he was sure if he remembered correctly that he'd seen Pidge once before with her mother before the Kerberos Mission wearing a dress. She'd had longer hair back then (which she kept in a ponytail) and she hadn't worn any glasses, but it had definitely been her.    
  
So . . . Pidge was a girl. If Lance really thought about it, it didn't change much. She was still the same Pidge he knew and loved, the same Pidge that was like a younger sibling to him, the same Pidge whose mad hacking skills had saved his life. And now, along with all that, she was also a pretty badass girl. She reminded him of his sister Veronica, in a way.   
  
With all that in mind, Lance decided then and there that he'd treat her exactly the same as always and not have any more weird freak outs. His intention was anything but treating her as something other than his friend and teammate, and since he'd already gotten off to a pretty bad start on that, that meant he had to act  _ extra normal _ around her. Of course, if there were any female-related problems she needed help with, he'd be glad to help (he had sisters, he knew how useful a heating pad and some ice cream could be), but it wasn't like he was going to start  _ flirting _ with her or anything.   
  
Oh, God, the very thought of him flirting with Pidge made him want to punch himself in his (very handsome) face. He really did flirt too much, didn't he? But . . . was it his fault if he wanted to find love? How was he supposed to find someone if he never talked to anyone? Besides, it wasn't like anyone ever accepted his flirting. Sure, some girls thought he was cute sometimes, and once in a while he'd score a date, but nothing ever worked out.    
  
Anyway, he never went  _ overboard _ with his flirting . . . or, maybe he did a bit, but he was  _ sure  _ he never made anyone uncomfortable. That was never his intention . . . flirting, when it wasn’t so he could find the one, was just another way to be entertaining so his friends would want to keep him around. Really, the only person he found himself continually flirting with was Allura, but . . . okay,  _ maybe _ he was developing an actual crush on her now. But what else was he expected to do? She was beautiful, and smart, and courageous . . . and she could beat him up, which was kinda hot.   
  
But . . . maybe he  _ should _ tone it down a bit. It shouldn't be too hard . . . it wasn't like he was going to meet any super cute alien girls on their way to the Balmera, anyway!   
  
"Hey, everyone, team meeting," Shiro called from the small staircase near Allura's console, standing with a very worried looking Hunk. Lance, leaving his thoughts behind him, got out of his seat and made his way to sit down on the stairs as the rest of the Paladins made their way over. Keith, emo as ever, crossed his arms and leaned on the half-wall behind him, while Pidge stumbled over to sit on the stairs, staring at something on her screen.   
  
"Okay," Hunk said once everyone was comfortable. "So, when we get there . . . what do you think?" he asked, pacing. "Do we just roll up and, like, start blasting? Or do we land and have some kinda . . . public address system, like," Hunk stood up taller, hands on his hips, "'Attention, Galras, this is Voltron. Turn yourselves in'?" He looked to the side for a moment, then deflated. "No, blasting, right?"   
  
Oh yeah,  _ definitely _ blasting. (Also, Lance couldn't help but smirk at the idea of Hunk waltzing in and saving his girlfriend or whatever . . . he wondered if they'd get a parade? A parade would be so cool.)   
  
"Hunk," Keith stepped forwards, hands out to demonstrate as he said, "calm down." He leaned back against the wall, one arm around himself as the other pointed at Hunk, "and yes, blasting."   
  
"It's our first big rescue mission, he's excited," Shiro defended with a small smile.   
  
"Excited to see his new  _ girlfriend _ ," Pidge teased, leaning back on the stairs to look up at Hunk with a cheeky smile.   
  
Hunk gasped, shocked at the very notion. "She's not my girlfriend! She's just a rock that I met and I admire very much."   
  
Mmm . . . sounded like a girlfriend to Lance. And to Pidge, too, he presumed.   
  
Suddenly, the alarm sounded, and Lance's ever-present smirk faded. What was going on? Was it another Galra attack?   
  
"What is it?" Shiro asked, mirroring Lance's thoughts. "Are we being attacked?"   
  
"No," Coran said, "it seems to be a distress beacon."   
  
"It's coming from a nearby moon," Allura informed them, watching the screen intently. "Apparently, a ship has lost power."   
  
"I wonder who it is?" Pidge rose a hand to her chin.   
  
"Whoever it is will have to wait," Hunk decided. (Lance understood his urgency to save the Balmerans, but . . . come on, Hunk! People needed their help!) "Shay has first priority. We can check back on them when we're done."   
  
"The Paladin Code states that we must help  _ all those _ in need," Allura countered, causing Hunk to cross his arms and frown. Well, he could be grumpy all he wanted.   
  
"Wow," Lance grinned, standing up. "This is  _ so cool _ . It's like we're space cops on space patrol." Lance could see it now. Him in a cop uniform, kicking Galra butt while Hunk and Pidge ate donuts on the background and Shiro presented him with a 24 karat gold medal . . . "Coran," Lance turned to the Altean, getting pretty excited about the idea now, "do we have a siren that we can turn on?"   
  
"Uh, no," Coran replied. "But we could record you making a siren noise and broadcast that to them."   
  
"Perfect!" Lance smirked. He held a hand up to his mouth, and let out a "bwaahhhh" noise before Shiro rudely covered his mouth.   
  
"Nope," the Black Paladin stopped him, "not doing that."   
  
Eh, whatever. He could find something else to announce their presence. Ooh, like an airhorn! Or a theme song!   
  
"Oh, look, the moon!" Pidge announced, and Lance was immediately dazzled. The moon was in very close orbit with a much larger planet that had a brown, rocky ring surrounding it. It was surrounded by a pink atmosphere that Lance hoped they'd be able to breathe, and although it was pretty rocky and gray from what he could see, it seemed like a pretty nice place to get stranded on.   
  
As they landed, Lance noticed three figures huddled up to a fire (that meant oxygen,  _ sweet! _ ) looking pretty in need of their help.   
  
"Attention, damaged craft," Allura announced through their speakers, "this is Princess Allura. We are coming to assist you."   
  
Their ship shifted into landing position, slowly lowering onto the moon, which Lance could now see was blue. The sky was a brilliant pink, though it was thin enough to still let the stars and other planet show through the color. All around were rising blue towers of rock that almost resembled mushrooms, causing the area to resemble a forest clearing.   
  
"Stay aboard and try to get as many of our systems clear of that Galra crystal energy as you can," Allura told Coran as her console lowered. "We'll see who hailed us."   
  
"Yes, Princess," Coran nodded.   
  
They entered an elevator-type contraption, which lowered them down towards the ground while they put on their helmets. Lance stood tall, ready to fight if necessary but hoping this would be a simple rescue mission. He’d had enough danger for a while. The doors opened and Allura stepped out, one of the figures rising from the fire and smiling.   
  
"You don't know how glad we are to see some friendly faces," he said, smirking. He was purple and kind of looked like a hobo, but had a sort of cool air to him that Lance found he liked. "Most folks don't wanna get tangled up with anyone who's on the run from the Galra."   
  
"So, you guys are fighting the Galra?" Keith questioned, as if needing confirmation that they were on their side. Lance thought it was kinda dumb to ask when they’d  _ just _ said they were on the run from the Galra. Besides that, if they were evil it’s not like they would  _ tell them _ . Anyway, Lance’s amazing judge of character was telling him these guys were fine, so Keith should really just stop worrying so much.   
  
"Well, I don't think Zarkon is exactly quaking in his boots at the three of us," he replied, tone smooth and calm, "but we do what we can."   
  
Lance wasn't paying much attention at the end there, though. He noticed something a little more important. Because one of the figures by the campfire was a girl. A  _ hot alien _ girl, specifically.   
  
Well . . . he’d never  _ promised _ himself he'd stop flirting so much.   
  
"I'm Rolo," the first guy introduced himself, "this is Nyma, and our cyber unit, Beezer."   
  
_ Nyma. _ What a pretty name.   
  
"Hi," she said, her voice one of an angel's. She seemed to sparkle in the starlight, her yellow skin seeming golden. Her deep amethyst eyes drew Lance in easily. Her beauty was incomparable.   
  
Well, if Allura wouldn't respond to his flirting . . . maybe  _ she  _ would.   
  
Wait . . . was he staring? Oh god, his cheeks were flaming, too. But . . . he couldn't bring himself to look away.   
  
Lance stepped forward quickly, grabbing her hand and giving it a gentle kiss. "Hi," he said, lifting his head and slowly lowering her hand. "Name's Lance."   
  
"Was your ship damaged in a fight?" Lance heard Shiro ask, but he barely registered it. Nyma was really,  _ really _ pretty. And she was staring at him with a smile that he was sure could make him melt.   
  
"Yeah," he heard Rolo answer as he finally let go of her hand. "We've really been through it with the Galra. Parts are . . . hard to come by. Luckily, we were able to limp to this moon about a week ago. If you didn't pick up our distress signal, I . . . " he trailed off.   
  
"We're happy to help," Allura told him. She introduced herself and the Paladins, but Lance wasn't paying much attention to that. Instead, he was focused on cracking a joke to Nyma, which he laughed at (a bit awkwardly) while she showed a hint of a smile. He hoped that meant he was coming off as adorkably charming and winning her over.   
  
But when Lance heard something about them not hearing of Voltron, he had to step in. He turned to face the group, confused and a bit offended. "Voltron? Five robot lions that combine into this big robot . . . guy?" Didn't that ring a bell?   
  
"Sounds impressive," Rolo smiled, "I'd love to see it. Or-or  _ him _ . . . them."   
  
"Why don't we just get to work on your ship?" Hunk quickly redirected. "I'm sure . . . we all have places to be."

Ah, yeah. Hunk was no doubt already ready to leave so they could go save Shay and her people. Lance could understand, but at the same time . . . there was no need to be rude!   
  
"Sure," Rolo replied, seeming to understand Hunk’s hastiness. He led them to their ship, opening one of the panels before he explained, "pretty much our whole flaxum assembly is shot." He turned to them, "I don't know what kind of extra parts you carry in this rig of yours . . . I've never seen anything quite like it."   
  
Allura said something in reply, but Lance was too busy showing off his amazing muscles to notice. He did one of his classic finger gun poses at Nyma, causing her to giggle. He was cut off by Shiro, however, who punched him in the back.   
  
Well,  _ sorry _ if he wanted to have a little fun while they were out in space!   
  
"We'll go with you," Rolo said, which Lance assumed meant Hunk was helping with fixing their ship. "Don't want you to have to carry all that yourself. Come on, guys."   
  
"Uh, I don't think so," Hunk stopped him, placing a hand on his chest before crossing his arms. "You can just wait out here."   
  
Man, Lance had never seen Hunk so hostile towards somebody . . . he  _ really _ understood where he was coming from with wanting to save those people and all, but it wasn’t like Rolo and Nyma were  _ trying _ to keep them from defeating Zarkon. He needed to chill out a bit.   
  
"Hunk, don't be rude," Allura reprimanded.   
  
"Yeah, mind your manners," Lance added, "there are  _ ladies _ present." He did his finger guns at Nyma, "hey."   
  
(Okay, maybe that was a little . . . misogynistic to say. But it wasn't  _ that bad! _ Even if . . . Veronica would probably have his ass for that. Um . . .)   
  
"Oh, I'm sorry," Hunk responded, not sounding the least bit sorry. "Oh, but does anyone remember what happened the  _ last time _ we let our defenses down?" Oh, yeah.  _ That _ . "Someone kind of set of a  _ bomb _ . Remember, Lance? You were almost killed." Yeah . . .  that was not something Lance really wanted to remember, thank you. Being dead was . . . he didn't want to think about that.   
  
"Oh, yeah . . . " was his response, his head lowering as he looked off to the side. It hadn't been that bad. He . . . nothing would have really happened to him.   
  
Right?   
  
"Hunk's right," Shiro said, stepping forward and hitting Lance's shoulder (hello, what the  _ hell _ Shiro?) "Sorry, but we have to be cautious."   
  
Yeah . . . okay, Lance supposed they were right. He would prefer to  _ not _ die.   
  
"Hey, I don't take it personal," Rolo said calmly, walking over to Beezer to get a slip of paper from it, "that's how it is out here. You gotta look out for your own," he stood up, handing the paper to Hunk while Pidge messed with the robot. "You're doing a good job, big man."   
  
Hunk took the paper virulently, "yeah, thanks."   


* * *

They ended up around the campfire. Allura explained a bit more about Voltron, but Lance wasn't paying attention. He couldn't keep his mind off of what Hunk had said.   
  
_ ‘Remember, Lance? You were almost killed.’ _ _   
_   
He'd known that. He'd  _ known _ that. So why did it seem so much more real now?   
  
He tried not to think about it. He tried not to wonder what would have happened if his friends didn't fix the healing pod, or if they hadn't defeated Sendak, or if he hadn't been deemed important enough to be kept alive as a prisoner. But . . . the thoughts just wouldn't go away.   
  
He'd almost  _ died _ .   
  
That could have been the end of him. He could have never seen his friends again. He could have never seen his family again. When was the last time he saw his nieces and nephews? The last time he talked to Marco? The last time he hugged his mom? All the depressing thoughts from the party reentered his mind, surrounding him with questions of "what if?" "what if?" "what if?".   
  
He didn't want this. He didn't want to think about this.   
  
So, instead, he distracted himself. He flirted with Nyma a bit. He ignored Shiro's disapproving glances as he told her terrible pick-up lines. And eventually, he joined in on the conversation. Unfortunately, it was just about as depressing as his thoughts.   
  
"My planet was destroyed by the Galra and I was taken captive," Rolo explained in response to Keith asking about their pasts. "I managed to escape, but . . . " he lifted up his pant leg, revealing a metal prosthetic. "Not before I lost something."   
  
"I know exactly how that feels," Shiro said, lifting his metal arm. Lance frowned. That must be hard for Shiro, not only having to live with all those memories but also with permanant reminders of his past as part of his body.   
  
"Well," Hunk's voice came near as he dragged in a box, ending  _ that _ conversation, "I hope there are some parts in here that'll fit."   
  
The Samoan took off his helmet, holding it by his side as he looked over towards the group expectantly. "You know, to get your ship moving?"   
  
"Great!" Rolo lifted a hand. "Thanks."   
  
"So," Allura sat down on a box, hands folded nicely in her lap, "what can you tell us about Zarkon's forces? Where are they concentrated?"   
  
(Meanwhile, Lance watched as Pidge flew around like a maniac on Beezer, having the time of her life. She really seemed to like that robot.  _ His _ distractions, however, weren't going nearly as well. Nyma was smiling at him, yeah, but she wasn't flirting back, and she'd completely ignored his obvious signs to hold her hand. Looks like she didn’t like him that much, after all . . . )   
  
"Well," Rolo began, "his command ship sits right in the center of the Empire. He mostly calls the shots from there and has his minions do the work, depending on who's closest. This is the territory of a real nasty bugger named Sendak."   
  
"Oh, we've met," Keith assured him.   
  
_ Yeah, no need to remind me, _ Lance thought.   
  
"How far are we from the center?" Shiro asked.   
  
"We're way out on the fringes--"   
  
"Hey, sorry to interrupt," Hunk said, again not sounding sorry at all. "But I think you guys are kind of keeping Rolo from working."   
  
Yeah, Lance definitely agreed. Could they talk about something else? Or, better yet, he should just leave this depressed-fest. The tense atmosphere was probably why Nyma didn’t respond to his flirting, anyways. He looked over to Nyma, gesturing with his head for her to follow him. She gave him a cheeky smile in return, and off they went.   
  
Turns out, it wasn't that hard to flirt with Nyma once they were alone. He used all his best pickup lines on her, and by the fourth, he had her doing that cute giggle of hers that he knew meant he was getting somewhere. They didn't go far, but she ended up sitting on a stray box and she finally,  _ finally _ asked  _ him _ something!   
  
She asked about Voltron, of course, but he was happy to answer.   
  
"I mean, there are only five of us in the entire universe, so . . . " Lance shrugged, "I guess you could say it's kind of a big deal."   
  
"I don't understand," she said, cocking her head adorably to the side, "the Lions are ships? Are they like flying statues that you ride on?"   
  
"No, no, no, they're magic," Lance explained, looking up as he pictured them in his mind. "But also, super scientific and advanced. And they fly crazy fast and have all these incredible weapons! Really, the entire castle is just insane!" He looked back at her, "I wish you could see it."   
  
"Yes, it's too bad we're not allowed inside," she frowned, looking super disappointed. Oh, no, that was  _ not _ allowed. A pretty girl like her was not allowed to be disappointed on Lance's watch. But . . . well, they  _ weren’t _ allowed inside. "I would love a tour from one of the knights. Buuut I guess the big one is in charge, huh?" she said, looking over to Hunk. "You have to obey his orders?"

Woah, woah, woah,  _ what? _   
  
"Who, Hunk?" Lance asked, looking back at her and scoffing. "I don't have to listen to him!" he told her, grabbing her hand and helping her off the box. She giggled as she followed, definitely impressed by his ability to not take orders from anyone. If it was a tour she wanted, then it was a tour she was going to get.   


* * *

Lance led Nyma inside through the elevator thingie, leaning against the doorway after he pressed the button for them to open. She gasped as she entered the Bridge, "this place is incredible!"   
  
"Yeah, I guess," Lance agreed coolly. "You get used to it."   
  
"But it's so gigantic! It must take you forever to get to your Lion," she assumed with a small frown.   
  
"Ooh, you'd be surprised," he smirked, letting her wonder for a moment before he grabbed her hand again, leading her to his tunnel.   
  
"Grab on," he said, lifting his arms to reach the handlebars. She stared at him for a moment, then smiled, wrapping her arms around him and pushing them off. She cheered and giggled as they flew down the tunnel, and Lance couldn't help but join her. He blushed a bit as they zoomed down towards his Lion, extremely pleased with his decision to take her down here.   
  
Eventually, they got to his Lion. He kept a cool smirk as they entered the cockpit, his pose casual and even let her sit on the chair (like the gentleman he was) before she patted her lap and let him sit sideways on it.   
  
Lance would be lying if he said his teen boy heart wasn’t pounding as he sat down. He was on her lap! Her  _ lap! _

  
"Pretty slick, right?" Lance smirked as the cockpit lit up, Nyma gasping in wonder at the sight.    
  
"Unbelievable!" she turned to look at him, "take me on a ride around the moon?"   
  
Oh, how Lance wanted to . . . but, okay, ignoring his girl-crazy brain, he knew he'd already pushed this too far, and Shiro would  _ kill him _ if he saw his Lion flying around.   
  
"Uh, we should probably get back to the others," he said apologetically, giving her his cutest 'I'm sorry' smile.   
  
"Yeah, you're right . . . " she sighed, looking away from him. "Maybe  _ Keith _ will give me a ride."   
  
_ KEITH?! _ _   
_   
The name set off every nerve in Lance's body, his anger unproportioned. Oh, no  _ way _ was  _ Keith  _ about to take Nyma on a ride in his Lion! Lance had been trying to get close to her all day! He couldn't just steal her!   
  
( _ Shit, _ Veronica would have his ass for thinking that, too . . . but that wasn't the point!)   
  
"No, w-w-w-hold on a second!" Lance interjected, lifting his leg to turn on something while his hand moved the controls forward. "What's the point of having the Lion if you can't enjoy it, right? Giddy-up, buddy!"   
  
And with that, they were flying up and out of the tower. No way could Keith have made such a smooth recovery as that! Ha, Keith had probably never been on a date with a girl in his life! But Lance? Oh,  _ Lance _ was a master at this. This time, things were definitely going to work out! He'd get Nyma's number -- did aliens have numbers? -- and they'd be on their honeymoon by June.   
  
Lance increased the thruster as they passed over Nyma's ship, taking them far away from everyone else. If he could just impress Nyma now . . . then she'd see how awesome (and how much better than Keith) he was, and she'd completely fall for him!   
  
He flew them around over the moon, even doing a few loopidy-loops and air tricks along the way, and one look at Nyma told Lance she was enjoying every bit of it. At one point she caught his gaze and smirked, as if she'd won something, and Lance knew he'd succeeded. She was  _ so _ going to give him her number!!! Maybe even give him a kiss before they went!   
  
"Look, a kinetic spring!" Nyma suddenly gasped as they neared a body of water (or maybe it wasn't water . . . it was  _ magenta _ , after all.) "Let's land over there." Lance nodded, lowering the Lion so its claws ran through the water, creating a wave behind them as Nyma continued, "its minerals reflect off the water, making a rainbow."   
  
When Lance looked behind him, he saw exactly that as a rainbow appeared in the wave they'd left. Man, this had to be one of most beautiful things he'd ever seen in space . . . or anywhere, actually. Definitely in the top five. (Though, of course, nothing could be Veradero.)   
  
"Wow . . . " Lance said with a blush, looking back to where he was steering. "Is there anything you  _ don't _ know?" Beautiful, kind,  _ and _ intelligent? This girl had it all . . .   
  
He barely even noticed that Nyma didn't answer, but he supposed it was a rhetorical question. Anyway, he focused on his piloting, spotting a place to land and heading towards it.   
  
Once they landed, Nyma was quick to lead him out, and they ran over to what Lance was pretty sure was a tree before they stopped. Only about a foot away from her, Lance leaned on the tree and tossed his helmet to the side, saying something that might have been a  _ bit _ dumb but was the most impressive thing he could think of at the time: "so . . . wanna see how fast I can climb this tree?"   
  
She giggled into her hand, looking back into his eyes. "Aw . . . you  _ are _ cute." She lifted her hand, "let me show you something. Give me your hand."   
  
Woah . . . was she going to kiss him or something? Oh, Lance was  _ all for _ kissing.   
  
He blushed, placing his hand in hers. Quickly, she took it, wrapped something around it, and then attached that something to the tree.   
  
Wait . . . did she just  _ handcuff him to the tree? _   
  
"Woah," Lance exclaimed, pulling at the handcuffs to test their strength before he looked back at Nyma. "This is kinda . . . " super kinky.   
  
Or . . . maybe not. Because now, their ship was overhead and stealing his Lion!   
  
"Nyma, what's going on?!" Lance shouted over the wind the ship had created. But he already knew . . . God, he'd been so  _ stupid _ . Of  _ course _ she was just using him!   
  
"Sorry, Lance," she said, grabbing onto the rope that lowered from the ship next to her. "Maybe we'll meet again!"   
  
And with that, she was being raised up and into the ship, breaking Lance's heart in two.   
  
He could do nothing but watch as their ship flew away with its stolen cargo, leaving him chained to a tree.   
  
She'd tricked him . . . she'd never liked him at all. Of  _ course _ she hadn't . . . he should have known this was going too well. Girls never liked him enough to let him be so close.   
  
Wait . . . they were getting away! He had to call for backup, he . . .   
  
He left his helmet to far away to reach.   
  
"Oh, quiznack."   


* * *

Reaching for his helmet had seemed easy. It really had. All he had to do was lower himself to the ground, and then stretch his body out as far as he could until his toes could reach the helmet and kick it back to him. Simple, right?   
  
No. Not simple. As long as his legs were, and as flexible as he was, this was not working. But it was the only thing he could do, so for the next five minutes, he tried.   
  
Eventually, he finally stretched himself out far enough for the tip of his boot to touch the helmet. He grunted and strained as he tried to reach just a few centimeters further so he could hook his foot under the visor. Finally, he managed to kick it, and with a stroke of luck, it landed right next to his head.   
  
"Guys!" he called out, praying that the microphone would transmit his words. "Hello? A little help?"   
  
"Lance?" Shiro's voice --  _ thank God _ \-- came through. "Lance, are you alright? W-what's going on?"   
  
"Well . . . " Lance's gaze trailed away from his helmet as he tried to figure out how to word this. "I'm kinda chained to a . . . . a tree."   
  
"I knew it!" he heard Hunk say.   
  
"And I think Nyma and Rolo just stole the Blue Lion?" he continued.   
  
"I  _ knew _ it!" Hunk practically shrieked.   
  
"Where are they?" Shiro asked, and unfortunately, that was one of the many questions Lance  _ didn't _ know the answer to.   
  
"Uh . . . space?" Lance tried, feeling completely useless.   
  
"Uh uh, I never trusted those guys!" Hunk exclaimed. "Right from the beginning!"   
  
As the team made their orders, Lance ended up tuning out their chatter (in his head, not the actual signals in his helmet . . . that would have been dumb as hell) because listening to Hunk's  _ 'I told you so' _ s was not his favorite pastime. Anyway, he realized he was going to be stuck here for a while, and he was not about to spend the entire time listening to orders and sounds of struggle.   
  
Ugh . . . he  _ hated _ being useless on missions. What was this, the second time? In a  _ row _ ? This was all his fault, and he couldn't even help get his own Lion back! What kind of Paladin was he? He'd been so distracted by a pretty face that he'd completely ignored the obvious: no girl would  _ ever _ like him that much. Besides that, he'd also stopped paying attention to what was  _ actually _ important: stopping Zarkon!   
  
And, on top of all of it, at least a third of the words coming out of his mouth today had been things that would have made Veronica absolutely  _ murder  _ him, which was never a good thing. God, he had to work on that.  _ Really _ had to work on that.   
  
Still . . . sitting around all day thinking about how terrible of a person he was wasn't going to solve anything, right? He had plenty of other things he could do! Like . . . try to uncuff himself! Or kick at some dirt! Or, ooh, he could think up some new pick-up lines!   
  
. . . but of course, his mind still went to dark places.   
  
Places he'd been trying to avoid all day.   
  
Places like his own grave; because as much as he'd tried not to think about it . . .  _ he'd almost died.  _ _   
_   
Of course, he'd known what he was getting into when he was told he was going to be fighting aliens and protecting the universe. He was going to have to put himself in constant danger, and there was always a chance he wouldn't survive. But . . . his cockiness and dumb teenage mind lied to him; they let him think he was indestructible, and that even if he got badly hurt, nothing was actually going to happen to him. And yet, there were times, in the heat of battle, or when he was trying to fall asleep, that he'd face the truth he knew deep down, and that was one simple fact: he was going to die.   
  
Everyone died. It was a fact of life. It was the one truth he could always rely on, the one thing he knew for sure to be certain, no matter if he ignored it or tried to cover it up with lies. But he knew . . . he was going to die. It was weird to think about, really. He'd been raised to believe in Heaven. He knew he was going there, or . . . well, hopefully, he was . . . but there was always a part of him that doubted it. Always a part of him that wondered if he even deserved to be up there. His mother had always assured him he did, and that he would, and all that, but . . . being out here, in space, fighting these battles . . . it just made it all so much more  _ real _ . Yeah, Heaven was great and all, but before he got there he was going to suffer.   
  
He'd always thought he'd die in his sleep, peaceful and old with everything he'd ever wanted to do done, every dream he'd ever had fulfilled. But now, the chances of that were getting slimmer every second. Because out here, in a ruthless war, fighting aliens and protecting people . . . he could die at any moment. He could die, out here in space, never meeting his true love. He could die without seeing his family ever again. He could die without even leaving a mark . . .    
  
But that was a risk he had to take. He knew that. To be a Paladin, to be a  _ protector _ , he had to be willing to eventually make that sacrifice. Everyone on the team was so amazing, but he . . . he was expendable. He wasn't like them. He wasn't amazing like them. He was just Lance, the goofy, flirty, nobody from Cuba. But even if that's all he was, he had to do his best and play his part. He had to protect those in danger. He had to help those in need. He had to keep his team safe, and keep the  _ universe _ safe, until his time came and someone else took his place.   
  
That was his role, and God dammit was he going to play it.   
  
And eventually, when he'd reached the extent of his usefulness, he would go. One way or the other, he would go. Be it death, or replacement, or injury, or anything in between. Eventually, his time would come, and the team wouldn't need him anymore.   
  
But until then, he was going to do his best. Because he was a Paladin of Voltron now, and he had a job to do.   
  
Hunk was so much better than him . . . he wished he could be like him. He wanted to save Shay because he liked her, yeah, but that wasn't the main reason. Hunk didn't let pretty girls distract him from doing what's right. He didn't let his feelings blind him from the suffering of others, or from his responsibilities. He was dead set on helping those people. Lance only wished he could be like him . . .   


* * *

Eventually, once Lance's brain had no other depressing things to tell him (or at least, no new things), he heard cheers. Which could only mean one thing . . .   
  
"Yeah!" he heard Keith chuckle. "Hey, Lance! I got your Lion back."   
  
Oh, thank  _ God _ . Keith, you wonderful, wonderful person. How had Lance been so jealous of him when he went and did stuff like  _ this _ ? (Or . . . maybe that was exactly the reason why.)   
  
"Thank you, Keith." Lance smiled softly, relieved that he hadn't completely messed up their mission. "Now, can you come and unchain me?"   
  
"What's that?" Keith asked, "I, uh, y-y-you're cutting out, I can't . . . I can't hear you."   
  
Oh. Oh no. This . . . this was payback, wasn't it? For not acknowledging their 'bonding moment'.   
  
"Oh, come on!" Lance tried to salvage it, not wanting to be stuck to this tree any longer than he had to. "I-I thought we bonded!" No reply. "Keith? Buddy? My man?"   
  
Eventually, after a few more nicknames, Lance heard a snort, and finally, Keith answered, "okay, okay, I'm coming to getcha."   
  
"Oh, thank you, Keith," Lance smiled again. Good to know Keith had his back . . . even if he'd kind of been a jerk to him.    
  
A few minutes later, the Red Lion landed where the Blue Lion had previously been, and out came Keith, smirking as he took off his helmet (and flipped his hair like a freaking model . . . who did he think he was?) Keith made his way slowly to the tree, obviously teasing, before he finally reached it.   
  
"Hey man," Lance greeted him, trying to look as dignified as he could while chained to a tree.    
  
Keith just gave a small chuckle, "you just _ let her _ do this to you?"   
  
"I-I thought she was going to kiss me or something!" Lance shrieked in defense. "She . . . she said she was gonna 'show me something', and then I was like wow this is kinky what the hell, and then their ship showed up and--"   
  
"Dude, relax," Keith practically snorted, bending down so he could work on the cuffs. Lance frowned, embarrassed, while Keith worked to undo them, and for a moment, there was silence.   
  
"You know . . . " Keith began again, "I wonder how many times I'm gonna have to get you out of messes like this before we save the universe."   
  
"Oh, shut up," Lance rolled his eyes, though he smiled once he felt the cuffs release. He quickly took his hands out and stood up, rubbing his wrists before looking back at Keith. "Well . . . thanks for helping me out. Maybe you're  _ not _ the worst," he offered a smile along with his hand, which Keith took after a moment and stood up.   
  
"We do make a pretty good team, don't we?" Keith rose a brow teasingly.   
  
"Mmmm . . . maybe. But that's the first time I've ever agreed to that," Lance huffed.   
  
Keith, classic Keith, just rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, though Lance thought he saw a hint of a smile still on his face.   
  
Maybe, just  _ maybe _ . . . the so-called bonding moment had happened. And  _ maybe _ Keith was kind of attractive, objectively. (His mullet ruined it all, of course, but his dazzling violet-gray eyes clearly made up for that . . . speaking objectively, of course.)   
  
But he wasn't about to tell Keith that. Not in a million years.   


* * *

They confronted Rolo and Nyma once Keith flew them back to the castleship, and  _ boy _ was Lance glad they were all mad at them. He was feeling pretty worthless because of Nyma, but he was also pissed that he'd managed to get chained to a tree by her when she was clearly up to something. Luckily, nobody held it against him.   
  
"Since your ship  _ really _ doesn't work now," Keith began as Lance crossed his arms, giving Nyma the stink eye, "you'll have to wait here for a rescue."   
  
"Thanks," Rolo said, looking up at them, "for sparing our lives."   
  
"Now that these guys are dealt with, let's get to the Balmera and save Shay and her family," Hunk insisted, and Lance more than agreed this time.   
  
"You may not believe this," Rolo said, causing everyone to look at him with confusion. (What right did he have to  _ talk _ ?) "But I hope you do stop Zarkon. It's a lifetime of fighting the Galra that led me to where I am today."   
  
Well . . . maybe he wasn't  _ so _ bad. Lance supposed, even if they had done something terrible, that they probably thought that's what they had to do to survive out here . . . maybe it was.   
  
He guessed he could find it in his heart to forgive them. He was still salty as hell, and he still felt like shit, but . . . a part of him understood.   
  
No one said anything before they walked away, heading back to the ship and leaving the traitors all alone on the moon, waiting for their rescue. This day . . . hadn't been what any of them had expected. But somehow, Lance thought they'd all learned a few things from it all. They should really stop trusting strangers . . . but they had a duty to help anyone who needed it. And if those strangers  _ did _ betray them? Well . . . not everyone was beyond forgiveness. Not Keith, not Rolo, and . . . not even Nyma.

Anyway, above all else, he _ really _ needed to stop flirting so much. At least, not with strange alien girls. So . . . maybe he should just focus on what he had in front of him.   
  
And, well . . . his crush on Allura was still growing stronger. So,  _ maybe _ , if he was sweet and kind and gentlemanly to her . . . maybe she'd see something in him one day.

And that was all he could really hope for, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things to be learned from this chapter:  
> 1\. Lance is great, but he needs to drink a little more feminism juice. He needs to throw those girl stereotypes out the window lol  
> 2\. God, is Lance insecure. Like, hella insecure.  
> and 3. HUNK IS THE BEST AND OH BOY I SWEAR A THIRD OF THIS CHAPTER IS LANCE APPRECIATING HUNK SO UH DIDN'T MEAN TO BUT IT'S LIT :,)

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys like this rewrite, I know it's not the most original thing but it's all from Lance's perspective so hopefully, that can bring something to the table!  
> Thank you so much for reading!  
> Yell at me on Tumblr: https://princessmuk.tumblr.com/ (Though, to be fair, this time I'm not really in charge of the plot!)


End file.
